Charles Summerour

Survivor

Like most sepsis survivors, I knew nothing about it, including how close to death I had been in 2002, when after a urinary tract infection. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) I was blessed to not only live, but to have only fairly minor after effects. My first real knowledge of sepsis, and where I had been came a few days after I came home from the hospital, when my wife mentioned the unfamiliar word, “sepsis”, to me. After reading only a few minutes on the Internet about sepsis and finding out that upwards of 40% of those who had it did not survive, I was humbled and almost numbed. I remember many moments there in bed when I would be overwhelmed by the reality of being a true survivor of something I knew almost nothing about. I was immediately struck that there was so little public awareness of sepsis, and tried to first educate myself about it, and then to tried to determine just how to even begin to tell others.

It wasn’t until almost 10 years later, when I was doing an Internet search, that I came across Sepsis Alliance, an organization dedicated to doing what I had no idea how to do—make others aware of the facts and dangers of sepsis. One of the first things I saw on the SA website was a video, Sepsis Emergency, in which the founder of SA, Dr. Carl Flatley, described in very touching words, how the disease had needlessly claimed the life of his daughter, Erin. One of the first references he made to her struck me greatly, when he described her as a graduate of the University of Georgia. As an alumnus of UGA, I immediately felt a kinship with Erin, although we had graduated about 40 years apart.

After digesting everything I could about Sepsis Alliance, I soon began email contact with Dr.. Flatley, and we discussed how I might get involved in possibly doing some programs to finally satisfy my desire to make others knowledgeable about sepsis. Soon, Carl and I began phone conversations and we realized that including being former Rotarians, we had some other common ground as well, including a similar passion about sepsis awareness. He sent me DVDs of the video and I began to make plans to arrange some opportunities to make presentations myself, beginning with my former Rotary club.

On one occasion, I mentioned to Carl that I had realized that Erin and I had more in common than I first realized as I had seen that she had died in 2002, the same year that I had sepsis. So I asked about the date, and when he told me “April 30th”, for one of the rare times in my life, I could not speak. You see, April 30, 2002 was my 54th birthday and except for the grace of God, could have possibly been my last.

I knew then that I had to get in action, and thus began the realization of the idea of being involved in giving back to a cause that I cared so much about, but to date, had no platform from which to speak. While my presentations have taken a while to get going, I still hope to be able to do whatever possible to share not just my story, but Erin’s story and the story of so many others who have suffered the cruelty of a disease which is only recognized by about 35% of the population, yet claims over 250,000 people in the U.S. each year.

Never do I anticipate coming close to the passion or approach the involvement that Carl Flatley brings to Sepsis Alliance and its work. But by doing my part, hopefully I can impact at least a few people, including the large number of survivors like myself, who need to know they have advocates like Carl and SA, who want to educate, enlighten, and inspire others to understand Sepsis and deal with it in their lives, so they can be free of many of the after effects of the disease. That would make Erin proud.

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