A man who doctors called ‘brain dead’ after he pulled out an ingrown hair has issued a positive update on his health.
Back in 2022, Steven Spinale did the rather innocent act of pulling out an ingrown hair from an area near his groin.
One of his TikTok videos quips: “It’s just an ingrown hair on your nut sack… what’s the worst that can happen?”
But this seemingly harmless decision would be one which would after he contracted sepsis, with his sister providing regular updates on his progress over the last four years.
She said in a TikTok video at the time: “Steven was pretty sick a month before being admitted. He was turned away at numerous hospitals thinking he was making it up.
“He didn’t have insurance. He started vomiting blood and they still sent him home.
“Next day, my sister had to call 911 because he couldn’t breathe. He was admitted and they found he had a rare bacteria in his bloodstream that was shutting down all his organs.”
Steven only woke up from his coma in November 2025 (GoFundMe)
Symptoms of sepsis are often difficult to spot, with the NHS that anyone with ‘blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue’ or confusion should be taken to A&E for urgent treatment.
In Steven’s case, from a rare bacterial infection after removing the ingrown hair, with the bacteria ‘ravaging through his body and shutting down all his organs’.
He was placed in a medically induced coma for five weeks, and faced a long road to recovery when he woke up.
The one solace for Steven is that he’s managed to retain all of his limbs, as sepsis victims can often end up losing their arms and legs, as severe inflammation and tiny blood clots cause tissue to die and develop gangrene.
Steven Spinale was in a coma for five weeks (TikTok/@michelle220777)
On his sister’s long-running TikTok account, he was finally able to thank everyone for their support as he issued another promising life update.
He said: “Hey, everyone, my name is Steven Spinale. Thanks for watching all the videos my sister makes about me. I just want to give you an update, I’m doing good. I’m working again, I’ve got a small child now and I’m living life to the fullest. Thank you for everybody’s support.”
It’s fantastic news for Steven, and his family clearly never lost faith in his ability to recover from the life-threatening illness and struggles he faced during his time in hospital.
After removing the ingrown hair from his groin, Steven, then 36, began to feel ‘pretty sick’ with doctors stumped as to what could be causing his symptoms.
It wasn’t until the father’s health declined so badly that he needed to be put on life support that doctors were able to figure out the full extent of what was wrong.
He’d developed sepsis
Despite a four percent chance of survival, Steven was able to recover (GoFundMe)
An extreme response to the body fighting off an infection, sepsis causes damage to the body’s organs and is nearly always fatal without medical intervention.
Symptoms of sepsis are often difficult to spot, with the NHS that anyone with ‘blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue’ or confusion should be taken to A&E for urgent treatment.
In Steven’s case, he’d developed sepsis from a rare bacterial infection after removing the ingrown hair, with the bacteria ‘ravaging thru [sic] his body and shutting down all his organs’.
The Texas native also caught influenza A, double pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) while in hospital as well as suffering a ‘small stroke after the sepsis reached his heart’.
Given the sheer number of life-threatening complications, Steven was placed in a medically-induced coma, was likely ‘brain dead’ and given just a four percent chance of surviving.
However in a miraculous turn of events, Steven was able to regain consciousness and recover. His recovery has been documented by family members, who’ve shared numerous updates on his health via social media.
In posted in November 2025, his sister Michelle shared various clips of Steven’s ‘milestones’ which include physiotherapy, sitting up in bed eating food and learning to walk again.
More recent photos revealed Steven’s life after being discharged from hospital, including going fishing and spending time with family members.
“We never lost hope,” she wrote in another TikTok which showed photos of him in the ICU and waking up. “And luckily [he’s] alive today.”
“We never lost hope of faith. And thank God we didn’t because look at him now,” she added in another clip. “[Doctors] aren’t the final word.”
“Little did we know that would be the smallest worry,” Michelle wrote in a post at the time. “He declined fast until he crashed and was put on life support.”
Steven’s organs then started to shut down and doctors realised he was suffering from which is a life-threatening reaction to an infetion. the deadly condition takes hold ‘when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs’.
It turned out that Steven developed sepsis after contracting a ‘rare bacteria that was ravaging through his body’.
The then-36-year-old got the infection
Steven then subsequently caught influenza A – a viral infection that mainly affects the nose, throat and lungs – and double pneumonia while he was in hospital.
Michelle told social media users who had been intently following her brother’s story that doctors had also diagnosed him with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
This is another potentially fatal illness which ‘is usually a complication of other serious conditions’ and means that the lungs are not working properly.
Michelle explained that the bacterial infection caused ‘severe damage’ to her siblings heart, while noting that he also suffered a ‘stroke’.
She said that medics had also found massive blood clots in legs and heart.
Steven was placed in coma with doctors saying he was likely ‘brain dead’ – giving the dad just a four percent chance of surviving.
“They told us no brain activity, but they were wrong,” Michelle captioned the clip, explaining his family had fought to keep the ventilator that was keeping him alive on.
After four weeks of being in a coma, Steven miraculous wake up here- and his sister caught the incredible moment he began to regain consciousness on camera.
Michelle captioned the heartwarming clip: “What it looks like to wake up from a coma after Drs said you didn’t have brain activity. Boy were they wrong.
“This is one of the many reasons I know God has the final say. They told us my brother was brain dead, he wasn’t!”
In the comment section of the clip, she explained that the marks on Steven’s face were ‘pressure wounds’ which he sustained after spending such a long amount of time in a rotating hospital bed.
In another TikTok video shared during Steven’s recovery, his sister explained that his family ‘never lost hope’, while poignantly adding: “And luckily he is alive today.”
Steven has since gone on to make a miraculous recovery after being discharged from hospital, while Michelle has been sharing regular updates on social media
She has shared several videos showing him hitting ‘milestones’ such as sitting up in bed eating food, learning to walk again and taking part in physiotherapy.
Other snaps show Steven going fishing and spending time with family members – while sporting a huge smile on his face.