Mighty Warrior

It’s been quite the year! One year ago today, 24 August 2021, I was admitted in hospital for the fight of my life. I had Severe Sepsis caused by a combination of Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella Pseudonyms due to an undiagnosed Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) and a blocked catheter.

Kristine and Ellie’s story, part 1: Experiencing Postpartum and Neonatal Sepsis

Hi. My name is Kristine, and my daughter’s name is Ellie. This is our story.

It all began on July 17, 2014 at 7:32pm.

It all began in June of 2017. My wife and I had planned a weekend at away with our dog Dexter. We were both ICU RN’s working 12-hour night shifts at a hospital near our home. When we got to the beach, I was exhausted.

My name is Linda. I am a Sepsis and Anaphylactic Shock Survivor. I am a Warrior that fought a battle in my body without warning. My journey began in May 2018. I had an ovarian cyst removed with the recommended hysterectomy. A few days after I was discharged. I began to bleed from the incision.

Thoughts on the Sepsis Experience:

Some will say I was one of the lucky ones although I don’t like the term “lucky” and don’t feel lucky having gone through what I went through.

I am a sepsis survivor. Let me tell you my story.

My name is Marie-Maxime, a 41 year old mother of two. I was exclusively breastfeeding my 13 month old baby girl when I started having pain in my left nipple for about 3 days. It appeared that I had a milk blister.

Mathieu was only 3 weeks old when one morning in 2015 he woke up late (for a 3 week old) around 10am. He seemed a little lethargic and not too interested in nursing but fine overall so we continued with our day. In the afternoon, as I was changing him I noticed that he had a strange mottled look to his legs and his tummy seemed swollen.

In 2012, I had sepsis following a bowel perforation. While the physical symptoms (mostly) took a year to resolve, the brain fog impacted my life for 2+ years. I still have abdominal problems ongoing, but the delirium was the most challenging thing to deal with.

It was May 2017 and I had not been feeling well. I knew I had pneumonia, I was prone to it, even in the summer months. I was breathing shallow, trying to stop my coughing fits. My breathing was raspy and it hurt. I was freezing cold and then I sweat out soaking the bed.

My name is Ray Schachter. I am a lawyer and a sepsis survivor. My sepsis story began in 1996 when I developed a group A strep infection. My sepsis was brought on by Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) in my bloodstream which compromised almost all my joints. I have read many stories about survivors and sadly stories about those who succumbed to sepsis.

The day my life changed

Imagine one day your whole life changes; for me that day was April 29/2015. It started as any normal day, wake up, have a cup of coffee and head off to work.

My name is Brandi and this is my husband Rikk’s story of survival.

A few members of our family had been sick with a cold, so it wasn’t surprising that my husband was sick too. Within a week everybody was better but Rikk was still sick.

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.

I’m a survivor of a hat trick of septic infections.

It started with a ruptured appendix in 2011. (Sepsis and Appendicitis) I had just started a new job and didn’t want to call in sick, so I went to work until I collapsed from septic shock.

What began as a fairly uncomplicated laparoscopic hernia repair, became a life threatening/ altering event and recovery. My repair went well and I was discharged 24 hrs post op in stable health. I awoke that following morning with severe abdominal pain and sought care .

On July 18, 2019, I went septic. At the time I did not know anything about sepsis, nor did any of my family members. Days prior, I noticed that the glands in my neck were swollen; however, there were no other indications that something so life altering would result.

Sometime in early in 2020 I started having pain/numbness in both legs with no answers. In April 2020, I developed what doctors labeled gastroenteritis. Over the next few days my symptoms seemed to get worse. I was suffering excruciating stomach pain, I could not keep anything down and had constant diarrhea and vomiting. My boyfriend took me to Emergency on 3 different occasions.

Cervical Necrotizing Fasciitis is an uncommon, yet clinically significant infection that rapidly progresses to involve the deep neck spaces. Early recognition and aggressive surgical intervention and debridement are important, as this disease is associated with a high morbidity and mortality.