SAT . From a Suspected Mosquito Bite to Three Partial Amputations: One Family’s Fight for Survival

What began as what seemed like a harmless mosquito bite turned into a life-altering medical nightmare — one that nearly claimed the life of Steve Mathews and forever changed his family.

Steve was working on a deck, living an ordinary day, serving others the way he always had. Within days, the bite became infected with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare but devastating flesh-eating bacterial infection that spreads with terrifying speed.

Doctors raced to save his life.

To stop the infection, surgeons were forced to amputate Steve’s arm. The powerful medications required to keep him alive came at an unimaginable cost — both legs below the knee and the fingertips on his remaining hand were lost as well.

“In just weeks, everything we knew was gone,” his wife, Dawn, said.

She remembers December 7 as the day their world stopped turning — when a routine urgent care visit spiraled into an ambulance ride, emergency surgeries, and the words no family is ever prepared to hear: flesh-eating bacteria.

Dawn watched surgeons remove most of the tissue from Steve’s arm. Then came days of septic shock, dialysis, and long nights spent waiting hour by hour to see if he would survive until morning.

And yet — he did.

More than 40 days into the fight, Dawn shared signs of hope she once feared she’d never see. Steve’s kidneys are beginning to show signs of recovery. His feeding tube is gone. His mind is clearer. His hearing is improving. He’s sleeping again.

Small victories — but miracles when death has been so close.

Steve Mathews is a pastor and chaplain, a man known for pouring his life into others without ever asking for anything in return. Now, his wife is asking for just one thing: prayer.

She is asking people everywhere to lift Steve up — for strength, for healing, and for peace as he learns to live in a body forever changed.

Dawn believes prayer has carried them this far — and she’s trusting it will carry them through what comes next.

She says Steve’s fight stands as proof of one powerful truth:
no matter how dark it gets, no one should ever give up.

If you could say one thing to Steve and Dawn —
what would you want them to hear today? 🤍