By Associated Press
PUBLISHED: 13:55 EST, 9 October 2013 | UPDATED: 14:46 EST, 9 October 2013
What initially appeared to be 'no big deal' became far worse. Slade's leg began to swell, and CT scans showed the infection had spread to his abdomen and chest, The Twin Falls Times-News reported.
Doctors in Idaho quickly flew him to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis.
Slade defied their expectations and is projected to make a complete recovery after arriving home in Dietrich on Monday.
He'll be taking antibiotics every day, and he'll get his stitches out from his surgery in two or three weeks.
NECROTIZING FASCIITIS: THE DEADLY FLESH-EATING BACTERIA'The disease is easy to misdiagnose. It may start with a red spot on the skin,' Scholes said.
'The infection goes deeper beneath the skin and can move relatively quickly and get serious fast.'
Slade had the same infection that fellow flesh-eating bacteria survivor Aimee Copeland almost lost her life to.
Copeland received huge media attention for her recovery after suffering life-changing injuries which led to her limbs being amputated.
Aimee was injured on May 1 last year when she traveled down a homemade zipline that snapped, sending her into a lake on the Little Tallapoosa River near Carrollton.
A cut on her left leg from rocks in the water became infected with necrotizing fasciitis.
