Football players ending up in the hospital with knee injuries or broken bones are almost commonplace.
But there was nothing normal about Rams center Scott Wells’ experience this summer.
A tick bite led to a bacterial infection which landed Wells in the intensive care unit. Called ehrlichia, it’s similar to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and can be fatal.
He thought he was suffering from the flu during June practices, but quickly realized it had gone beyond that when his urine was dark brown.
“Wednesday night I was put in ICU,” Wells said, via Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “From the way (doctors) explained it to me, it attacks your bone marrow and starts to shut down your immune system so you can’t fight it off. Then your organs start to shut down trying to fight it off.
“So it went from what seemed to be just a cold virus, flu-like symptoms, to really sick really fast.”
Wells said his body temperature reached 104.5 degrees, and he lost 20 pounds during the four days he was in the hospital.
“It took some time to gain the weight back,” Wells said. “I was in great shape when I got sick, and the doctor said that’s what helped me get through it. But I’m healthy now. I’m fine now. There’s no residual long-term effects from it. Everything is normal.”
He’s back in the lineup and normal now, but will never look at a bug bite or flu symptoms the same way again.
