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BRIDGE CITY — A benefit is planned next month to help a Bridge City man who suffered a leg amputation after he contracted a flesh-eating bacteria in Cow Bayou.

On Nov. 12 beginning at 9:30 a.m., family and friends of Carlton “Tater” Abney will be at The Crawfish Hole, 405 Parkside Place Drive in Bridge City, to help raise money for the lifelong Bridge City resident who narrowly escaped death after cutting his foot in the water late last month.

The benefit, which has no end time, includes plate lunches, a silent auction, shirt orders, activities for kids, live music and a washer tournament.

Abney has encountered hundreds of thousands in medication bills alone following his injury Sept. 18, according to his son, Colton Abney. Having spent his life around the bayou, the last 16 years of which in a house that sits near the water, Carlton originally thought his injury was likely an insect or snake bite.

Within a matter of days, as the pain and swelling continued to increase, Colton brought his father to the hospital and learned he was in multi-organ failure and hours from death.

Four hours later, his leg had been amputated.

“It was crazy,” Colton previously told Port Arthur Newsmedia. “They had doctors that came down from Baylor because they hadn’t seen anything like this. It took almost five hours for his organs to start working again.”

While there are several strands of Vibriosis, Vibrio vulnificus can cause necrotizing fasciitis, otherwise known as flesh-eating bacteria, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control. The bacteria is found primarily in salt or brackish water and is contracted through an open wound or by eating undercooked shellfish and certain seafood.

Cases of Vibriosis in Texas grew from 79 in 2010 to 289 in 2019.

Cow Bayou feeds into all large bodies of water in Southeast Texas, including the Gulf of Mexico.

Immediate donations can be made through Venmo at Venmo @Colton-Abney-1.

— Written by Monique Batson