(07/02/18) - A painful dog bite quickly turned from bad to worse for a Munger man.

He ended up with a rare, flesh-eating bacteria called necrotizing fasciitis.

"It was as if an alligator grabbed you and threw you to the side, but you just didn't see it coming," said Jim Fitzpatrick, who said he was bitten inside the Firestone auto shop on Bay Road in Saginaw Township.

He said the incident took place this past Saturday.

Fitzpatrick said he was inside the shop and so was a woman who had brought her dog inside. He said it was on a leash.

"The dog was looking at me so you know, you put your hand out to sniff it and it went fine," Fitzpatrick said.

The quick sniff was followed by a quick bite.

"It had it's mouth on the meaty part of the thigh so it, it kind of did bite, bite, bite, but didn't let go," he said.

As Fitzpatrick broke free, he wasn't sure he'd make it to safety in a nearby bathroom, but he did.

He remembers thinking it could get worse.

"Is it going to jump and go for your neck next, or your groin, or anything's possible," Fitzpatrick said.

He ended up driving himself to Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw. When he arrived he said his right thigh was bruised and had bite marks.

"The pain was a lot worse than I anticipated, because I guess I thought a dog bite is teeth," Fitzpatrick said. "I didn't comprehend the strength of the jaw."

Fitzpatrick said the wound was cleaned and he went home with antibiotics.

But once he made it home to Munger, the dog bite had gotten worse. Even so, he thought the pain, and what appeared to be bruising, was normal.

Fitzpatrick said he was home for about 20 minutes when his mom told him to turn around.

"It got so bad so fast, maybe 90 minutes it was black and growing. It got to be about the size of a softball," he said.

The wound looked completely different the second time he arrived and the Covenant team quickly called in a surgeon.

"The surgeon comes in and says you have to do it or lose your leg, so it was quite an easy choice," Fitzpatrick said.

He said at this point it felt like someone was using a blowtorch on his leg as bacteria was destroying his tissue and muscle. Necrotizing fasciitis can be deadly.

"The surgeon even said as we're talking every 20 minutes is, you know, replicating and getting worse," Fitzpatrick said.

There's a lot of unknowns in his recovery, but he's thankful to have his leg. He's also grateful he didn't have his kids with him like he usually does.

"If I had my 4-year-old, I think it might have been a lot worse. But I'm glad it was me and hopefully the store will change ideas about having animals there," he said.

Saginaw County Animal Control did not return messages asking whether officers were able to locate the dog. Fitzpatrick said he talked to the woman after the attack.