After playing three games with the Toronto Maple Leafs following his trade from the Carolina Hurricanes, the shin injury that Brown suffered while playing with the Hurricanes was not healing very well, and Brown began experiencing severe chills and became very ill. He asked Toronto trainers if he could go home, but trainers Chris Broadhurst and Brent Smith spotted something wrong with the scar on his leg. Its inflammation appeared to be spreading to other parts of the body. Broadhurst and Smith insisted that Brown see a doctor, but by the time he got there, he was already in shock. Unsure what was wrong, the trainers then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors performed emergency surgery. They found a potentially deadly virus related to the flesh-eating bacteria, had entered the infected area of Brown's leg. The surgery saved Brown's life, and he returned to action for Toronto's Feb. 4, 1998, game against the St. Louis Blues.