Jessica McNeil

Two months ago I started to not feel well. Before I knew it, a few days passed and my legs and arms were in so much pain that I could not walk. My husband had to carry me to the bathroom and I would cry in pain even after that. My husband kept saying you need to go to the hospital but I insisted that everything would be ok and I was just going to try and push through it all.

Two more days passed when finally I told my husband that I felt like I was going to die, he took me to the ER and they didn’t see any swelling. But when my blood work came back it showed I had bacteria in my blood. My inflammation markers were 10 times the normal limit and they admitted me into the intensive care unit. The doctor came back and said I had 4 bacteria in my blood and told me my chances of survival without organ damage. I was on several IV antibiotics and finally they figured out what four bacteria I had in my blood stream.

They switched the antibiotics and I got better really quickly with no organ failure. My doctor was amazing and said I perplexed him and also that I was more than lucky to have survived. They believe that the prednisone I took a couple weeks before, for my ulcerative colitis, weakened the lining of my stomach and that is how the bacteria got through into my blood. I was very lucky to have survived as well with no organ damage. (Sepsis and Autoimmune Diseases)

I am only 30 years old, newly married and this was a very scary experience. The only after effects I had were anxiety, in all honesty, and I still get tired easy. But for what it could have turned out to be was me dying, so I believe I was very lucky as well. That is my story of sepsis and I am sharing my story so that if they feel the way I did, they can learn from my story. I don’t want anyone to go through what I had to go through.