A keen amateur rugby player has told how an innocuous graze on his calf ballooned to double the size after becoming infected with dog poo. Neil Baxter, 44, has played rugby for 37 years and suffered from grazes "hundreds of times" during matches. So he didn't think much of the one-inch graze he got from a boot stud during a Saturday morning match with his club Mistley Rugby Club against Shelford Rugby Club.
He thought nothing of it and carried on playing, but later at home he noticed his leg had ballooned to become 10cm larger than it was before and started feeling red hot. This was the start of three months of hospital treatment and an operation after doctors told him the wound had become infected with dog poo.
Though Neil is now back playing rugby again he has been left completely numb in his calf which he says you could "stick a pin in" without him feeling it. The locksmith said: "I went to A&E and they said I had an abscess just behind my shin bone, so they had to cut my leg open and flush it all out.
"They had to leave the wound open and pack it with loads of stuff, which they gradually removed over a three-month period before gradually closing it up."
Neil ended up spending seven days in hospital, last February but a year later the feeling has not returned to his calf. The married dad of a son, 12, and daughter, 13, said: "I now cannot feel my calf from about two inches below my knee right to the bottom of the muscle. You could stick a pin in there I would not be able to feel it."
He said he is very grateful to be back playing rugby again after the ordeal left him with 20 per cent muscle loss along with a "big dent" in his calf. He said: "I had to do a lot of work in the gym- going from being very strong in my legs to not being able to lift any weight on that leg was strange.
"When using the leg press I couldn't have any weight on it at all."
He is now back to pressing 140kg and his club have since implemented stricter rules for cuts and grazes. He said: "We've put a lot more protocols at the club since it happened - we now have wipes and gel to clean any cuts before showering.
"People are more vigilant now. The council weren't able to put more poo bins out so we've installed them and emptied the bins ourselves."
He is now retiring from rugby due to his age but is concerned this incident will deter children from taking up the sport. He added: "I own two dogs and I would not leave poo anywhere – it is just the one per cent of owners responsible.
“What worries me more than anything is this becoming another barrier stopping people from bringing their children to play rugby.
“Participation levels are down and this sort of stuff really does not help. Rugby is so great but we cannot show children that because their parents might now be worried about them getting dog poo in any cuts.”
