Bob Brousseau had been officiating baseball games in Ottawa for the past 13 years.

He was hit with a foul ball at the beginning of July and died unexpectedly last week as a result of flesh-eating disease and leukemia.

“It’s unbelievable because I’m thinking ‘why him? Why him?,’” said his widow, Pat Longmore.

Longmore said the ball hit her husband in the thigh. The impact left a huge bruise and eventually Brousseau went to the Brockville General Hospital where he was diagnosed with a hernia and sent home.

Longmore said Brousseau’s health deteriorated rapidly so he went back to Brockville before being rushed to the Kingston General Hospital.

It was there where doctors diagnosed Brousseau with flesh-eating disease and leukemia.

“You go through your what ifs or I should have done this or should have done that. Maybe if I had gotten him to the hospital that night, I don’t know,” said Longmore.

Flesh eating disease is a rare infection that doctors say is often tough to diagnose and spreads quickly. It usually begins with an open-wound, but in this case it was a bruise.

The disease was made worse by the leukemia, which Longmore said Bob and his family didn’t know he had.

His friends at the baseball diamond said Brousseau will be dearly missed.

“It’s still hard to believe he's not around, its unfathomable it shakes you right up,” said Marcel Nicholas.

“Bobby was our gentle giant as we like to refer to him, an easy outgoing man loved baseball, loved people.”

With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Ellen Mauro.