Jan 02, 2026
3 min read
A Montgomery County business owner continues to recover in the hospital after contracting a rare flesh-eating bacteria.
Doylestown, Pa
Peter Atkinson, 49, from north Wales, had been in Doylestown Hospital since December 19, when doctors diagnosed him with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating infection.
Atkinson said the hospital's quick response saved his life.
"If this hospital didn't help, I would have died," Atkinson said.
Atkinson said his illness felt like the flu at first.He described having a fever of 104 degrees and felt a mass in his chest before seeking medical attention.
"How did I get it? How did it happen? It's probably rare, but it's not that rare because it happened to me," he said.
Doctors quickly realized the severity of his condition, he said.
"I told them, and she's like wow, not five minutes later, she's coming and saying, 'We're going to be able to do the problem.
According to his family, the infection then progressed to sepsis and his kidneys began to fail.His sister, Marietta Atkinson, said the incident was especially painful because of their family history.
"Perhaps one of the most terrible events in our lives, the second terrible event. In 2016, we lost our sister to sepsis, very similar to what Pete had," he said.
Family members said Atkinson started showing signs of improvement around Christmas.His wife, Sherri Paulson-Atkinson, described the emotional tragedy of seeing her husband in the hospital.
"My husband is a fighter, he's a fan, he's always busy, and seeing him lie like that was really hard for me," she said.
Atkinson owns a towing company and is unable to work for the foreseeable future.A friend of mine started a fundraising page that raised $13,000 to support the family.
"The amount of people who have contacted me in the last few days - I don't know how to help," Atkinson said.
Paulson-Atkinson said the family remains focused on his recovery.
"He did everything for us, and we just want him back," he said.
Atkinson is currently on dialysis.He is scheduled to undergo another procedure and is expected to be transferred to a rehabilitation facility to continue his recovery.
