Woman shared open letter after her husband died from a tick bite

Crissy Naticchia shared a lengthy letter sharing how her husband died from a tick bite. The doctors weren’t able to figure out what was wrong with him at first.

Naticchia said that her husband was a healthy man who seldom got sick. In fact, she said, in the 26 years she had known him, he only got sick twice.

Suddenly, Naticchia said in the open letter she posted on The Mighty that her husband developed a fever.

He also had to change clothes and bed sheets a number of times since he had been having drenching sweats.

It went on for a number of days and there were no symptoms. The husband was alarmed and went to urgent care.

The results from the urgent care revealed he had a “raging kidney infection.”

After taking the prescribed antibiotics, his fever and sweats went away. Although, Naticchia said that her husband still felt weak afterward.

It went on for days and her husband had to leave work during one day and immediately fell asleep thirty minutes after arriving home. The next day, things got worse and he had to go to the emergency room.

The medical staff ran tests and eventually admitted him. He was turning frail and still, there was no explanation behind his condition.

Twelve hours after being admitted, he was put in the Intensive Care Unit.

As his liver and kidneys were shutting down, the doctors became alarmed. At first, they assumed it was from drinking alcohol since he was also in septic shock.

Naticchia’s husband stayed in the ICU for three days. After seeing no improvement, they transferred him to a hospital that specialized in liver malfunction.

His condition became even worse and he had to be set up on dialysis. The doctors attempted their best to keep him stabilized.

Naticchia’s family became hopeful when they finally had a diagnosis. The doctors revealed his blood tested positive for Babesia. It is an illness carried by ticks that attacks red blood cells.

The husband was immediately treated with the right antibiotic and he underwent a blood transfusion.

Just when the husband began to show signs of improvement the following day, Naticchia was asked by the doctor to come to the hospital at 4:30 a.m.

Naticchia arrived with her parents and her mother-in-law at the hospital. When they arrived, the husband’s blood pressure was dropping and his heart was deteriorating.

In a matter of two hours, the husband passed away all because of a simple tick bite.

Naticchia explained that she wanted to write the open letter to make other people aware of parasitic infections like her husband’s.

She pointed out that it might have made a difference if they were only educated by the illness before it was too late.