Young boy dies from flesh-eating bacteria. And now his mom is warning other parents

It is very common for active children to injure themselves repeatedly, and while parents get accustomed to this, nobody would be prepared for this.

8-year-old Liam Flanagan was a simple child who loved playing outside and being with the animals on the family farm, but for his mother, Sara Hebard, a simple house accident became an unforgettable tragedy.

According to Independent, Flanagan, who lived in Pilot Rock, Oregon, died after contracting a rare flesh-eating bacteria after falling off his bike.

The child was riding down a hill when he suddenly fell. The 8-year-old boy suffered from a severe cut on his leg, which required stitches.

According to East Oregonian, after an emergency room doctor stitched him up, his family thought everything was fine, but several days later, Flanagan found himself fighting for his life.

The same outlet also revealed that flesh-eating bacteria, which likely entered his wound from the soil, attacked the boy’s soft tissue, but his family didn't know about it at first.

“It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a bad one. It just needed a few stitches is all, that’s it. And he was taking it like a trooper,” said Hebard.

According to So Share This, a few days later, Flanagan started complaining about having intense pain near the area of his injury just a few days later and she decided to rush him to the hospital.

Doctors diagnosed Flanagan with having necrotizing fasciitis, the flesh-eating bacteria, and in the days to come, he would endure four surgeries to remove infected tissue.

He first went into surgery at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, Oregon, but then had to be airlifted to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. As the bacteria spread, doctors were forced to amputate infected tissues.

“Almost his whole right side was gone. They kept cutting and hoping. Cutting and hoping,” said his mother.

Flanagan was then transported to Randall Children’s Hospital in hopes of a better chance of survival, but he passed away the first night he slept there.

Hebard said that she wants to raise awareness of necrotizing fasciitis' symptoms, which include intense pain, out of proportion with damage to the skin, flu-like symptoms, swelling and discolored skin, vomiting, and diarrhea.