I am a sepsis survivor

Sepsis. Is it a word you are familiar with? If you’ve heard of this condition, it’s likely that you have been a victim, or know somebody who has. Despite a high mortality rate (around 3000 deaths a year in Australia) sepsis remains a little-known condition that is underreported and often misdiagnosed. In the UK, with more than 44,000 deaths, it kills more than bowel, prostate and breast cancer combined.

I know all this because I am one of the lucky ones. I am a sepsis survivor. Sepsis (which becomes ‘septic shock’ in the third, most critical stage) is the body’s severe reaction to infection. If not recognised quickly, it will kill. Many survivors are left with tissue damage, organ failure, amputations or permanent damage to extremities as well as lasting physiological and psychological effects. The elderly are particularly susceptible, but it can strike at any age.

Sepsis can be caused by bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infection and develops frighteningly quickly. It can start with something as simple as a scratch.

Symptoms include uncontrollable shivering, very low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat but a high temperature is not always present initially, hence the lack of recognition of infection.

In one way I was fortunate to have been in the hospital when sepsis struck six months ago even though the cause was a post-operative infection. I had been scheduled for discharge, but during the night the shivering began. By morning I  was feeling terrible, but there were no other symptoms to point to sepsis until my temperature rose suddenly and hit 105. I was hallucinating, collapsed and my blood pressure became dangerously low. I suddenly became an emergency case and needed to be transferred from the small private hospital to the better-equipped city one. Nobody had yet named my condition, but it was clear that this was a situation requiring ICU. I don’t remember much except that there were tubes everywhere and that my family were very concerned. Early intervention, the key to survival, shortened my stay and saved my life. I had reached stage 3, so now have a new appreciation of life.

Others have survived but with life-changing consequences. Shane Barnbrook’s tragic outcome was recently in the newspapers. Shane is a member of the small but growing Facebook group, Australia and NZ Sepsis Support Group which is providing a space for those affected to tell their stories. Similar groups operate in the UK and USA. My story is on the USA Sepsis Alliance page but compared to others I am only too aware how fortunate I am.

The British press is currently conducting an awareness campaign about sepsis with television, radio and newspaper coverage following new treatment guidelines issued by The National Health Service (NHS) this month. Suspected sepsis must now be treated within an hour. The symptoms have been simplified for easy recall.

Please be aware. Do not become a sepsis statistic.

Have you had experience with sepsis?

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