17-Year-Old Dies From Rare Flesh-Eating Bacteria

October 10, 2002

Teen Played Football For Firestone High School

UPDATED: 8:50 a.m. EDT October 8, 2002

AKRON, Ohio -- Students at Firestone High School in Akron lost a friend and

classmate to a rare disease Saturday.

NewsChannel5's Costen reported that n Long, 17, was healthy,

athletic and well-liked, but he died from a bacterial infection.

Long (pictured, left) also ran track, but on Monday it was his football

coach who counseled a teary-eyed team.

" We need to do the things that would exemplify n Long, " coach

Proctor said. " He has to live through us now. "

" n Long was like the perfect young kid, " said Mullins, a

Firestone High School senior. " He was a good athlete. It's just sad what

happened to him. He did nothing wrong to nobody. Everybody got along with

him. "

Long died from necrotizing fasciitis, known as the flesh-eating bacteria.

Long's family said a week before, he had been complaining about a pain in

his shoulder. Upon examination, doctors found the infection. He was admitted

to the hospital on Wednesday, and by Thursday, he was on a ventilator.

For many of the students at Firestone, this is the first time in their young

lives that someone close to them has died.

Students grieve by being angry, feeling guilty or sometimes by finding

something or someone to blame.

" We sit down with small groups of children, we ask how they knew the

student, what kind of relationship they had, " said Dr. Bard, chief

psychologist of the Akron Public Schools. " We try to get them through some

of the stages. "

Long's death has taught the students something they can't get from a

textbook, NewsChannel5 reported.

" It makes you appreciate each other, " said k , a junior. " You

could be here one day and be gone the next. "

Doctors said that necrotizing fasciitis is rare and not contagious. The

bacteria are staph and strep, which cause simple wound infections. It leads

to necrotizing fasciitis when the infection spreads to deep tissues and

sometimes muscle, The Akron Beacon Journal reported.

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