Delene Chappel

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My mother died from sepsis on Oct. 9, 2004. I watched my mom battle this infection for just days. It was very sad to watch as her body was completely taken over. The effects that it had on her were devastating.

My mom wasn’t visibly sick. She was taken to the hospital after she had started to show signs of dementia and the loss of the use of her legs. She had fallen out of bed several times the night before.

I went to visit my parents on the 3rd (the following day). It was their 43rd wedding anniversary. Her mind was not there anymore. She had a fever and you could see the confusion in her mind. It was breaking my heart to see my mother this way. She was suffering. But we had no idea why.

My dad brought her to the Emergency room and she was admitted. But it wasn’t until the next day (the 4th) we were told that she had 5 days to live. My family was shocked and devastated. They told us that she had an infection and they were treating it the best that they could. It was then we decided to transfer her to the city hospital. We felt that more knowledge of her “illness” was there. But what was her illness, considering we didn’t really know what was wrong with her?

When we arrived at the other hospital, immediately we were told my mother had sepsis. But by the time we had gotten her there, she was already in septic shock. (My mother was allergic to penicillin and sulfa.) It was an uphill battle that my mom never won.

After about an hour we were told that she needed to be placed into a medical coma. She was agitated and her mind confused it was the best thing for her. She needed to be able to relax. I think I knew then that she was not coming back to us.

I stayed with my mom 24 hours a day. I watched as this “sepsis” slowly take not only my mother, but my best friend from me. Within 5 days her lungs had collapsed and she was placed on a ventilator. Her organs failed. She was placed on life support. Then she had a stroke. It was then on the 9th (5 days after we even knew she was sick) that we had to choose to disconnect support to her. At 7:12 pm, on October 9, all support was stopped for my mother….

I remember leaving the hospital still asking my self, “What was sepsis?” I knew what it did to my mother, but how did she get it? I went home and researched, and to my surprise I found that thousands of people die from sepsis each year. And like me, a lot of people have never even heard the word before. It wasn’t until I had lost my best friend that I knew such an ugly illness existed. Now I tell everyone about my mother’s death. And most people have to ask me what sepsis is. I believe that through each of our individual stories we can make sepsis more known.

Source: by Corrine Chappel (Delene's daughter)

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