Most people who come into contact with Naegleria fowleri never get sick. The amoeba can only infect a person when contaminated water goes up the nose, often during swimming or diving. It then travels to the brain, where it destroys brain tissue.

The amoeba entered his brain through his nose, possibly when he jumped into Lake Murray, near Columbia. The CDC said 167 cases of the infection have been reported in the U.S. between 1962 and 2024, and only four people have survived.