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But after stepping on a stingray and contracting the flesh-degenerating bacteria vibrio vulnificus last week, Crisp was concerned that his surfing days were numbered.
“It was pretty scary the other day. But knowing I’ll still be able to surf is pretty cool without worrying about a peg leg. I know I have a long process ahead of me,” Crisp said Monday from his room at Citizens Medical Center.
Crisp might be the first reported victim of vibrio this year in the Crossroads region. The health department waits for cultures to confirm the disease before officially tallying an incident, said Dr. Bain Cate, director of the Calhoun County, Cuero-DeWitt County, Jackson County and Victoria City-County health departments.
Despite his suffering, Crisp has a request of other water lovers:
“I don’t want people to be scared of water. I want them to recognize what’s happening and help keep the beaches clean. We need to do everything we can. I’m a healthy 33-year-old man. This isn’t supposed to affect us.”
His surgeon, Dr. Shadid Hasmi, who operated to remove pressure on the foot on Friday, was not available Monday afternoon to verify the diagnosis, but Crisp’s wife, Clare, a licensed vocational nurse, relayed what she’d been told.
“We’re waiting for the cultures to come back, but it’s vibrio. But it’s different. It’s already sensitive to penicillin. The one before wasn’t, so it’s a different strain. But it’s definitely vibrio,” she said.
Crisp was surfing Wednesday afternoon after work at Port Lavaca Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where he is a physical therapist. His younger brother, Justin Crisp, and a friend were with him when he took that life-changing step.
“I was sliding off my board and stepped right on top a stingray. I’ve been in the water my whole life and never really encountered a stingray. It hurt,” Crisp said.
He had to wade through “nasty, stagnant beach water” to get to where he could examine the wound.
“I went on in and looked at the wound. It stung. I caught my breath and paddled back out and surfed ’til dark like we usually do,” he said.
Crisp went to work the next day. By noon, his whole foot had begun to swell and become discolored. He came back to Victoria and went to a clinic where he received an antibiotic and a pain pill.
“By 8 p.m. that night my whole leg was swollen like it was going to explode,” Crisp said.
Friday morning he was in the Citizens Medical Center emergency room and then in surgery later that day.
“I hadn’t really thought about how serious it was until the doctor looked at it, and they took me into surgery right away. It had turned quite black,” he said.
His mother, Charlotte Crisp, a teacher in the Industrial school district for 40 years, was horrified.
“What was scary is they said if it was in his bloodstream, he had a 50-50 chance to live. As his mother, I didn’t take that too well. I didn’t know if they were going to be able to save his leg. I saw it. It did not look good. We have some really good doctors here,” she said.
In addition to Dr. Hasmi, the patient credited Dr. John McNeill for his emergency room diagnosis.
“Dr. Hasmi told me he saved my tattoo,” Crisp laughed, despite knowing that part of his calf has been surgically peeled away.
Crisp likely will have surgery again Friday and faces skin grafts down the road, Clare Crisp said.
The surfer also offered some advice:
“Make sure you don’t wait. If you get bit or stung, go ahead and get treated, no matter how tough you are. When something happens, go in, no matter your pain threshold.”
Clare and her husband hoped their story would make the public aware of the risks.
“If we can save one family from having to go through this, telling Glenn’s story is worth it,” she said. “And we’ve got a 3-year-old we take every time we go to the beach and a 3-month-old who hasn’t been in the water yet, but it’s so much part of our lives, she will be.
“After seven to 10 days of antibiotics, they should be able to see him. They miss their daddy.”