Giants Player Daniel Fells May Lose Foot to ‘Superbug’ Infection

The tight end has already had several surgeries.

Physicians aren’t sure how Giants tight end Daniel Fells acquired the MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infection that could take his foot if it isn’t brought under control, reported CBS New York, but they’re working hard to stop it from spreading throughout his body. 

MRSA frequently attacks open wounds. It can begin as a seemingly benign skin irritation, just some itchy redness and tenderness, then rapidly degenerate into fever, chills, and severe pain. It’s often acquired in medical settings, but Fells’s case is something of a mystery. In the CBS-NY report Giants coach Tom Coughlin said that with Fells, “it was a different story,” 

“[There] was no surface injury that anybody knows of,” said Coughlin, “It was an acute joint (ankle) problem along with a temperature.”

An unnamed source told NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport that Fells’s problems began with “a toe injury, then an ankle injury.” The tight end received a shot of cortisone to help deal with the injuries, but the pain remained and Fells ended up in the ER on October 2nd, his temperature over 100 degrees. MRSA had taken over his ankle. 

Fells’s physicians have been doing their best to avoid amputation, according to Rapoport, but there is an “urgent fear is that the MRSA has gotten into the bone and that it could travel into his blood.”

The NFL.com article quoted a statement from Pat Hanlon, a spokesman for the Giants, which said that Fells’s ordeal “has been taken seriously from the beginning,” and that everyone in the organization is “fighting for Daniel.” 

To combat any possible spread of MRSA bacteria to other players, the Giants have “scrubbed and sanitized” their facilities and begun educating Fells’s teammates on how they can help. 

Daniel Fells is on the Giants’ injured reserve list, ending his season. Hopefully he can stay intact and recover his health and missing a season is the worst thing that happens, in the end. 

Photos by Robin Marchant/Getty Images Entertainment