Nick Bray points to the scars on his leg from his bone infection surgery outside his new apartment on Monday, June 1, 2026, in Brisbane, California.

“The whole time, I had a bone infection. My knee was getting worse. Getting out of bed, showering, and going through the process made the infection worse. By the end of the day, I was in bed screaming and crying,” Bray recalled. “I did seven ER visits in the month-and-a-half I was there. By the end, morphine wouldn’t even work anymore.”