A documentary on Washington Redskins and former Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Alex Smith has debuted and the details are disturbing. The documentary by E:60 chronicles Smith’s road to recovery after a traumatic injury that sidelined him for more than a year with the Redskins.
A video shown in the documentary shows Alex Smith's gruesome leg injury just a couple of days after surgery.
Smith said in an ESPN interview that his 2018 leg injury almost led to amputation and that he's "lucky to be alive" after battling the life-threatening infection he experienced in the aftermath. In a November game against the Houston Texans, Smith was tackled by J.J. Watt and Kareem Jackson, causing him to suffer a compound fracture in his right tibia. The bone penetrated the skin in the injury, significantly increasing risk of infection because it was such an open wound. As a result, Smith suffered sepsis, a life-threatening condition the body undergoes when fighting infection.
"I had a pretty serious infection ... they had a lot of complications with it,'' Smith told ESPN's Outside The Lines. "I'm lucky to still have my leg."
Smith recounted being faced with another life-altering decision after weeks of being sedated while medical staff staved off the infection. "Next thing I remember is waking up several weeks later faced with the decision of amputation or limb salvage at that point." Smith recalled.