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An overweight man survived a deadly flesh-eating skin bug – because of his extra bulk.

Russell Kimble, 39, weighed 27st when he picked up the lethal necrotising fasciitis during a routine op to remove a groin abscess.

The bacteria multiplied so rapidly the bug “ate” his body at a rate of an inch an hour.

At one point, he was given two hours to live.

But Russell, from Chatham, Kent, said: “I had a lot of weight to lose – and being a big chap probably saved my life.”

Within 24 hours, the infection – which has a mortality rate of 73 per cent if untreated – spread to his backside and lower back.

Russell was put in an induced coma for nine days and had 20 ops to remove infected flesh as surgeons tried to halt the bug.

They cut out a two-inch deep area from his groin, upper legs, back and stomach.

But he pulled through and, after seven weeks, he left Medway Maritime Hospital, Kent.

Russell, whose skin graft took 300 staples to keep it in place, was in hospital on his planned wedding day but will now marry Verity Ager, 45, in October – weighing 5st less.