New! Magazine – 29 July 2019

I felt tired all the time. I was afraid I was failing

Rowan as a mother. I’d faced death without

even realising it, which was a lot to deal with.

Fortunately, Aaron was amazing and my

parents, Mark and Linda, also helped with

Rowan. I retreated into myself a little and

was worried about being a burden.

However, eight months later,

I started to feel like

myself again.

I went on holiday

to the Lake District

with my family and

it helped me to

come to terms

with what had

happened.

Sepsis is

often confused

with gastroenteritis

or flu and the

symptoms can show

up differently – I was

fortunate that my nurses

had immediately known what

was wrong. I had been saved by an

early diagnosis and I wanted to help others.

I decided to raise awareness for The UK

Sepsis Trust, so I planned a sponsored hike in

the Brecon Beacons. But in October 2016, a

year and a half after my first diagnosis, I began

feeling short of breath and my temperature

was fluctuating. I knew that there was a risk of

recurrence with sepsis, so I put Rowan down

for a nap and waited for Aaron to come home.

“I’ve got the same symptoms as before,”

I said. I didn’t want to put Rowan through

another trip to A&E, so I insisted on going to

the hospital alone. Aaron planned to follow

later but things deteriorated rapidly. I felt so

poorly and powerless. I knew my life was at

risk and I was terrified.

The doctors reviewed my medical records

and I was given a bed in the acute medical unit,

but things weren’t moving quickly enough. “I

need you to start treatment,” I pleaded.

uncontrollably again but still managed to

breast-feed Rowan if Aaron or one of the

nurses held him for me.

The next five days were a blur. I was

monitored while eight different types of

antibiotics were pumped into my body

to fight the infection. Gradually,

my trance-like stupor

began to lift. I was then

moved to another

ward, where I was

given another

dose of

antibiotics.

“What

happened to

me?” I asked

one of the

nurses.

“You had

sepsis,” she

replied. “You’re

extremely lucky.

If you’d waited another 24

hours you could have died.”

FACING DEATH

It was the first time I’d ever heard sepsis

mentioned and I was stunned. After being

discharged 24 hours later, the first thing

I did was start researching the illness.

Terrified, I read that sepsis was caused by the

immune system’s overreaction to an infection

or injury. Instead of fighting the infection, my

immune system had attacked my body’s

organs and tissues. If I hadn’t been diagnosed

early on, my organs could have failed. “Sepsis

could’ve killed me,” I sobbed to Aaron.

It didn’t make sense. I’d always been strong,

fit and healthy. I was shaken by how close I’d

come to leaving my baby and husband forever.

I learned from The UK Sepsis Trust website

that survivors also grappled with Post Sepsis

Syndrome (PSS), which could leave them

feeling exhausted, anxious and depressed.

There were no treatments available and

R

ocking my newborn to sleep,
I was exhausted. It was March
2015 and I’d recently given birth
to my first child, Rowan. Along
with my husband Aaron, now 30, I was hardly
sleeping, but our little boy was so perfect
we happily accepted the sleepless nights.
We were settling into a routine but ten
days after Rowan was born, I started to feel
strange. One minute I was drenched in sweat,
the next I was shivering with cold. I thought it
was natural for new mums to experience hot
and cold flushes, but lying in bed that night
I was shaking uncontrollably. “We should get
this checked out,” Aaron said.
I was still under the care of my midwife, so
we called the local delivery suite. They advised
me to come in for a check-up and, because
I was breast-feeding, we took Rowan with us.
Aaron, a carpenter, drove us to hospital and
we arrived at midnight. I was so exhausted
I felt like I was in a trance. My skin was pale
and mottled and two midwives took me away
to do tests. Because my oxygen levels were
dropping, I needed to use breathing apparatus.
I felt so confused and disoriented. “You have
an infection. We need to administer IV
antibiotics,” one of the midwives said.
I was taken to a room on the delivery
ward and hooked up to an IV. I was shaking

‘I had to keep

fighting for

my little boy’

Aaron and Rachael

have been raising

awareness

Rowan visited his

mum in hospital

earlier this year

Here in the UK, someone dies of sepsis every 12 minutes.

After battling the deadly complication three times, support worker

Rachael Wilde, 28, from Norfolk, is now determined to save lives