A man had to have his leg amputated after contracting flesh-eating bacteria during a swim at a Connecticut beach.

Bruce Kagan, 68, has undergone several surgeries since he went swimming at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, where he believes he contracted the infection, news station WVIT reported.

The New Britain resident said he had a small cut when he decided to take a dip in late June off the shore in Long Island Sound.

“It’s all because of a little cut. It’s all it was, a little cut. Nothing more, nothing less,” Kagan told WVIT.

Kagan soon began to feel sick and was admitted June 30 to the Hospital of Central Connecticut. Doctors diagnosed him with necrotizing fasciitis, a potentially fatal infection that has popped up with alarming frequency in the US in recent weeks.

“My life changed within one moment saying ‘Yeah, it’s going to be okay,'” Kagan said. “Next moment, ‘We don’t know if you’re going to be okay.'”

The flesh-eating disease can be caused by different strains of bacteria known to be found in saltwater environments, according to the CDC.

He underwent several surgeries in an attempt to save his leg, but doctors ultimately decided to amputate it above the knee to prevent the infection from spreading, the news station reported.

“All I can say is that I am by far one of the luckiest men in the whole world, by far,” Kagan said. “I don’t know how I made it, but I did.”