Shane M.

In late spring 2016, while working a construction job in northern Ontario, I started to have pain in one of my molars. There were no dentists close to where I worked or lived. I was 31-year-old, working out of town on contract and the pain wasn’t too bad. So I decided to wait until I came back to home about a month later to see my own dentist.

In July 2016, I came home and got sick almost immediately. I had developed a fever and other flu-like symptoms. I was staying at my mother's house, when I collapsed in the bathroom. I was conscious, I could not get up, I couldn’t respond, I was having trouble breathing and I could feel my body shutting down. I have a young son, this was terrifying. My Mom called 911.

I don’t remember much after this point. When I arrived at our local hospital, I was put into an induced coma and woke up about a week and a half later. That's when I was told I had Sepsis that had quickly progressed to Septic Shock. I was told that if I had been older, I might not have survived. I had never heard of Sepsis. Both of my feet were black, my hands and half of my arms, too. I stayed in the intensive care unit for over a month. I required daily dialysis to get my kidneys working again and had multiple surgeries to remove toes and dead tissues.

August 2016 I was discharged from hospital to a convalescence unit in a long-term care home that usually cares for seniors and veterans. I stayed there for just over a year. My wound care was extremely painful and took about 2 hours every time. I was confined to a wheel chair for a year until I regained some strength and able to bare any weight on my feet. My fingers started to self amputate and I had to have all of my fingers amputated on my left hand and most of them on my right.

My right foot never healed properly. I suffered chronic pain and infection for 4 years before having a below-knee amputation in January 2020.

I am grateful to be alive, to watch my son grow. But have not been able to return to work and not sure we where this road will take me yet.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/dental-care-life-threatening-conditions-1.6397395