An East Patchogue firefighter is in a battle for his life after contracting a rare flesh-eating bacteria.
Lt. Ralph Lettieri, 26, was given antibiotics after noticing a bump on his left knee a little over a week ago, but it wouldn't go away.
He was then admitted to Brookhaven Hospital for necrotizing fasciitis on July 29, according to WABC-TV.
Lettieri's father told the news station that he has undergone six surgeries in three days as doctors were forced to remove layers of his skin and flesh to say ahead of the bacteria.
Almost his entire leg is exposed and he has double pneumonia in his lungs. On Tuesday, he was put in a medically induced coma.
He will be transferred to Nassau University Medical Center on Wednesday and will be put in a hyperbaric chamber.
No one is sure how the young man contracted the disease, which is fatal in about 25 percent of cases.
