Man had both legs amputated after burning thumb on skillet during camping trip

A man who burned his thumb during a camping trip with his friends in the US has become a bilateral amputee.

Max Armstrong, of Franktown - a town to the south of Denver in Colorado, went camping with his friends in Kiowa in December, when he burned his thumb on a skillet while cooking pasta for their dinner.

Max Armstrong was camping with his friends when he burned his thumb while cooking (Max Armstrong / SWNS)

"It was a hunting trip with friends that turned into a bit of a nightmare," the 40-year-old explained.

"I grabbed a skillet wrong and my thumb touched the hot part, I could feel it burning as I moved it to the table but I didn't want to drop it.

"I didn't think much of it as I have gotten burns, scrapes and cuts from living in the outdoors and being outdoors my whole life.

"After dinner, I cleaned up the burn, put a bandage on it and left it."

At the time, the Franktown business owner hadn't thought anything of it but as the days passed he noticed his left leg had began to swell up, while his toenails began turning purple and he was in pain.

The burn to Max's thumb led to sepsis and a bilateral amputation (Max Armstrong / SWNS)

Six days passed until he was driven to a nearby hospital (on December 7), and when he made it into the ER his eyes began rolling to the back of his head.

The reason for the delay was because he thought the pain had just came from hurting his ankle at some point without realising.

Doctors quickly confirmed that strep A bacteria had gotten into his burn and that quickly developed into sepsis - which can be life-threatening if not treated properly.

"Sadly, dinner was enough for the burn to get strep A," Max added.

"At that point, my toenails started turning purple and the swelling had increased."

Two months on from first burning his thumb, Max is recovering at home (Max Armstrong / SWNS)

Max was placed into an induced coma for six days, when he woke from the coma on December 13, Max says his feet were both completely black and doctors recommended amputation - telling him they would be impossible to save.

On December 23, he had a three-hour operation to amputate both of his legs.

"Initially when I woke up, I thought my legs were still there and then I came to realise that they weren't," Max added.

"I felt down my leg and realised that my legs weren't there, I asked the nurse and she confirmed that I had my legs amputated.

"She told me that my family was waiting for me and kept on reminding me of them which anchored me."

After more than a month recovering in hospital, he was able to go home to his 42-year-old wife, Megan Armstrong, - a GoFundMe page has been set up to help fund his medical bills.