Salmonella truly can be a devastating bug.  Deadly, in some cases, and life-threatening in some other ones.  Barb Pruitt was infected by Salmonella typhimurium in August 2009.  She had four feet of her small intestine removed a few days later, which had become so necrotic (dead) as a result of her Salmonella infection, that it was no longer functional and probably would have killed her if it had been left in (not to mention some critical, first rate medical care).  Her life will never be the same as a result. 

Kathy Sweeney at Hartland news reported this evening on the great strides in recovery made recently by a Missouri man infected by Salmonella a year ago.  Here is the story:  

 More than a year after being stricken by a salmonella infection, a Mississippi County man is taking encouraging steps toward his recovery.

We all saw how a common infection could have critical results back in May, when we met LD Stidham and his wife, Molly.

I caught up with the Stidhams Wednesday morning at Sikeston Rehab, where LD receives therapy.

It took two months of effort, physical therapist Tracy Davied says, but Stidham now sits up nearly on his own. He works hard at moving each limb to strengthen his trunk.

"You do it," encouraged Davied, "Good."

"There you go," his wife Molly told him.

"He’s much stronger than what he was," Molly said. "Whenever I saw you last time, he didn’t raise himself up in the bed or none of that.". "Now, he almost will sit up in the bed by himself."

But, along with muscle, Stidham had to build the trust needed to put his recovery in the hands of strangers.

"It took him a while to warm up and feel comfortable working with us," Davied said. "So, I was not extremely optimistic based on our first meeting, but he has given much more than I anticipated we would get."

Stidham spends an hour a day, three to four times a week, trying to regain what a salmonella infection took away. He communicates with a nod or a raised eyebrow, Molly clearly reading each signal as she encourages his every move, here and at home.

"She follows through with anything that we are working on, she will follow through with that when he leaves this setting," Davied said.

When he’s ready to leave this setting for good, Molly fully expects he’ll have a few choice words for me.

"We just know one of these days he’s going to walk," Molly Stidham said. "And he’s going to talk to you about you talking about him on TV."

As Stidham continues his recovery, a Blodgett business will hold a fundraiser this weekend to help the family with medical expenses.