Patients & Family

Sepsis Alliance provides information and resources to help you better understand your or your loved one’s sepsis diagnosis.

Diagnosed with Sepsis

For anyone recently diagnosed with sepsis, this is the place to start.

Sepsis Basics

Sepsis Survivors

Some sepsis survivors recover completely and resume their lives, while others may struggle to cope with enduring effects of their illness. Here you can find information to help you navigate post-sepsis life.

Survivor Resources

Caregivers

When your loved one becomes ill with sepsis, you may not know what sepsis is or how to help them. Here are resources that may help you navigate this complex and difficult journey.

Caregiver Resources

Lost Loved Ones

Losing a loved one to sepsis can leave you with grief as well as many questions. Here are answers to some of the questions you may have after losing a loved one to sepsis.

Resources for Loved Ones

Sepsis Alliance Connect

Sepsis Alliance Connect is the virtual support community for anyone affected by sepsis.

Sepsis Alliance Connect

Faces of Sepsis

Helen Decker

Survivor

August of 2021 I was diagnosed with diverticulitis. I followed doctor orders by taking antibiotics and a liquid diet. Pain worsened for a couple of months with scans only showing inflammation. I went to the hospital where I was put under observation for a three day period, receiving antibiotics through IV. Despite no improvement in symptoms, they discharged me since my white blood count went back into the normal range. 6 days later, I woke to rapid heart rate into the 160s and 180s, vomiting, shivering, a fever of 103.2, difficulty breathing and pain that made it difficult to walk. ... Read Full Story

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Tiara Beatriz Díaz

Survivor, Survivor

Translated by Google translate Teacher and Agronomist with only 33 years, Fever and pain in the joints, an urgent care and 2 emergency rooms. My lungs wrinkled, I could barely breathe, my pulse was sky high and my pressure was on the floor, paralysis throughout my body without being able to move or control my sphincter. They told me you have an infection in 83% of your body and are about to go into septic shock, they put me in intensive care without knowing what caused it. The doctors couldn’t find the cause, so they tried several antibiotics to see ... Read Full Story

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Jacqueline Mayes-Pehl

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

I had what I thought was the flu for 3 weeks. During the day I felt fine but at night it was bad. One night I took my temperature and it was 104°F but apparently I didn’t want to bother anyone so I went to sleep. The next day, I now recall taking a UTI test at home (I didn’t remember this until I was healed) and it immediately said positive without having to wait. I did nothing. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) When my husband came home from work he said I had told him to go to the ... Read Full Story

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Nash Epperson

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

On the morning of April 28, 2018, Nash was a normal, healthy 6-year-old playing in an early morning soccer game. That same evening, we almost lost our sweet boy to sepsis. That Saturday was full of soccer games and celebration – April is a month full of birthdays for our family, including Nash. On that April afternoon we had gone to a family member’s home to celebrate a birthday. While there, Nash began to complain of belly pain and had developed a fever. We took him home and he laid down to rest. As the day progressed his pain increased ... Read Full Story

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James L.

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

Hi. My husband, James (Jay for short) had spent years on an immunosuppressant medication for rheumatoid arthritis. We knew there was risk of infection, but he had always been fine. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System) One morning in July 2019, he awoke extremely sick. It seemed like food poisoning so I sent him back to bed. But because of Covid I was taking his temperature just in case. Well his temperature spiked and he was in and out of consciousness. I rushed him to the hospital where he was admitted in septic shock. He was in kidney failure and having ... Read Full Story

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