Genevieve Gallagher just wanted a fun day on the water. She went for a swim near Pensacola Beach, Florida. Her husband Dana and her 7 year old daughter Mila were with her. She had a small cut on her left leg. Three days later, she almost died.

Gallagher is 49. She is now warning other families. A rare germ called Vibrio vulnificus nearly took her life. It also cost her most of her lower leg. Doctors call it flesh-eating bacteria. It lives in warm, salty water. That water fills the Gulf Coast every summer. It stretches from Pensacola all the way down to South Padre Island.

El Tejano first warned South Texas readers about this germ earlier this week. Florida, Louisiana and Texas health leaders had all reported more cases this summer. Gallagher's story puts a face on that warning. Read it here: eltejanorgv.com/flesh-eating-bacteria-warnings-spread-along-the-gulf-coast-this-summer

The trouble started three days after her swim in late July of last year. Gallagher was at work when she began sweating and feeling sick. Her leg swelled up and filled with blisters. She rushed to the hospital that same afternoon. She went straight into surgery.

"Every organ in my body began to fail," Gallagher said. "I went septic. I was intubated for six days, almost lost my life."

Surgeons cut away infected skin and muscle on her lower left leg. The germ had already spread deep into the tissue. "They debrided my leg down to the bare meat," she said. Doctors tried to rebuild the leg with a muscle graft from her back. It failed. Blood clots got in the way. She spent weeks in the hospital at UF Health Shands in Gainesville.

"I lost so much of my left leg below my kneecap," Gallagher said. "It's unbelievable the amount of trauma I've been through."

She said the pain felt "like somebody took gasoline, poured it on my leg, and lit my leg on fire." Doctors told her no pill or shot could stop the germ once it got inside her leg. "There's no antibiotics that they can give you to stop it," she said. "They just have to get out any infected skin."

Vibrio vulnificus is not new to the Gulf Coast. It grows fastest in hot, still water. Summer heat makes it worse. "When it's so hot and that water is not moving, that bacteria is just growing," Gallagher said. The germ gets into the body two ways. One way is through a cut that touches the water. The other way is by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, like oysters. About one in five people who get infected dies. Some die within a day or two.

Florida has counted 15 cases and 2 deaths so far in 2026. One person who died was from Marion County. That person was 60 to 64 years old. The other was from Brevard County. That person was only 10 to 14 years old. No cases have shown up yet at South Padre Island. None have shown up in the Rio Grande Valley either. But the same warm Gulf water reaches Texas beaches too.

A year after her swim, Gallagher is sharing her story. She wants other families to be safe. She has one piece of advice above all others. "Do not shave the night before you go in the water," she said. A fresh razor nick can let the germ in. So can a small open cut, even a scratched mosquito bite. "So do not take that chance with your life," she said.

Doctors along the Gulf Coast give the same advice. Cover any cut, scrape, or fresh tattoo with a bandage that keeps water out. Or just stay out of the water until it heals. Get help fast if you feel sick after time in Gulf water. Watch for fever, chills, or a wound that turns red and swollen. Waiting even one day can turn a small cut into a deadly infection.