Documentary shows ex-Chiefs QB Alex Smith had flesh-eating disease after breaking leg
After commercial breaks for its documentary “Project 11” about quarterback Alex Smith’s recovery after a gruesome broken right leg, ESPN had a warning for viewers about graphic images.
With good reason.
Smith had surgery to repair a broken bone in his leg which occurred during a game with Washington in 2018. The documentary, which aired Friday night, revealed that days after the surgery, he had a bacterial infection called necrotizing fasciitis. That’s better known as flesh-eating disease.
As Smith’s fever spiked, doctors performed a surgery to remove part of his lower right leg. Then another. Then another. After eight surgeries finally succeeded in removing the infection, much of his leg was gone and his tibia was fully exposed.
Smith’s wife, Elizabeth, recalled meeting with Dr. Robin West during the process.
“I just said, ‘just please just break this down for me. Like, my husband is laying here. And he’s dying. And it’s coming from his leg. I just need to know, why can’t we just just cut it off? Like, where do we go from here?’” Elizabeth Smith said in the documentary.
“I said, ‘Is it gonna be OK? Is he gonna be OK? I need to know that I’m going to be able to leave this place with him with me. I can’t go home to my children without him with me.’”
When Alex Smith regained consciousness, he faced an agonizing choice: amputation or muscle transfer. The latter meant removing part of his calf muscle from the right leg and quadriceps from the left leg and placing it in the exposed part of his lower right leg.
Smith, the former Chiefs star, chose muscle transfer, and the documentary followed Smith through his recovery afterward.
“You know, you’re upset,” he said in the documentary. “I was pissed off. You know, you kind of go through a why-me, how-did-this-happen mentality.”
But Elizabeth Smith shared a great story during his time in the hospital.
“He one night looked over at me and said it’s gonna be OK. Like, I know it’s gonna be OK,” Elizabeth Smith recalled. “He said, ‘do you know how many people would love to trade positions with me?’ And I’m like, what? He’s like, do you know the things the blessings we have. He’s like, and we can’t take it for granted not even for a minute. He’s like, perspective.”
After being released from the hospital, Alex Smith used a walker to get around his house. But that was just the beginning of his road to recovery.
His way back included rehabilitation at the San Antonio Military Medical Center, where he talked with soldiers who had been seriously injured in combat.
The documentary ended on an uplifting note as Alex Smith ran and played with his children.
ESPN shared a look at Smith’s leg during the terrible experience, and you can see it below, but be aware there are graphic images.
