Melbourne Dad “lucky to be alive” after contracting disease on Fiji holiday

A Melbourne man is lucky to be alive after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria while on holiday with this family in Fiji.

Father of two Adrian Nandapi wasn’t fazed when he first scratched his leg in a pool.

“Right on the edge of the step. My shin bone just happened to hit the edge of the step. (It was) just a regular scratch,” he told 7NEWS.

The next day his leg began to swell and, by the time he landed home, he could barely walk.

He was taken to hospital where doctors discovered his leg was infected with necrotising fasciitis – a flesh-eating disease.

“You hear about it but would never have thought that this would’ve happened to us,” his wife Enza said.

The bacteria may have come from the pool, the beach or garden.

Doctors warned the family to prepare for the worst as Nandapi was sent to surgery.

He spent days in intensive care, his family not knowing if he would wake from a coma.

“His blood pressure was very low. His blood was acidemic, and he was going into renal failure - his kidneys were shutting down,” ICU doctor Anthony Cross said.

He spent months recovering from several operations, including skin grafts, and says he owes his life to the medical team at the hospital.

“(It’s a) second chance at life,” Nandapi said.

This story originally appeared on 7News.