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Patients & Family

Here you can find resources to help you or a loved one understand sepsis.

We are constantly adding new information, so please come back again to see what new features are available.

Diagnosed with Sepsis

You’re not alone

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

What Does it Mean

Faces of Sepsis

You’re not alone

Read stories from sepsis survivors and from people who have lost someone they love to sepsis. More than 1,000 stories cover the many types of infections that can cause sepsis, and the outcomes.

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Norma Jenckes

Survivor

My encounter with sepsis and septic shock started the last day of May 2019. I was at home and I was frightened. I felt exhausted and was finding it difficult to walk because of the dizziness and light-headed feelings. I use a walker due to chronic pain caused by rupture discs and sciatica. But this was different. I had severe pain that had moved from my left lower back to my left abdomen. I wondered about kidney stones. I took my temperature and it was 100 degrees. This added to my fears because in the past when I have had …

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Kathleen Hickey

Survivor, Survivor

16th February 2017, I was sent into hospital to be induced for my son as I was 13 days overdue. The pessarie didn’t work so the midwife tried to pop my waters…. this is where the nightmare starts! (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth) As soon as she popped my waters, my baby’s heart beat decreased suddenly and I had a lot of blood coming out. Then all the midwives were rushing me into another room, strapping me to all these monitors and I had to have a canula put in my hand and on a drip. When I got to …

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Patricia Garrod

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

My sepsis started at least a week before I actually went to hospital. I was feeling extremely tired and shaking, so my hands were unable to correctly type on my mobile phone. My concentration was effected too. On the day I was admitted to hospital my colleagues at work became concerned due to my lack of energy and confusion. I had a severe neck ache so I couldn’t keep my head up. I went to hospital by ambulance which to this day I cannot remember at all, in fact to this day I cannot remember anything about that day or …

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Colleen Summers

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

On March 18, 2015 I had surgery to remove 90% of my stomach due to a condition called gastroparesis. (Sepsis and Surgery) Over the next few weeks I got sicker and sicker and all the doctor kept telling me was that we “needed to let my bowel rest.” Finally I got him to put me back into the hospital where I spent 9 days before being transferred to Chicago. When I got to Chicago I was extremely ill and they had me in emergency surgery by the next day. They didn’t think I would make it and told my family …

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Charly A.

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

In the Summer of 2013 I had been working on my computer. When I got up to get a drink, my hips hurt and when I sat back down, I began noticing other aches. Within minutes I began getting chills that progressively got worse. I got in the shower to try to warm up but the chills got worse and my teeth were chattering so badly that my jaw hurt. After much difficulty, I got dressed, wrapped myself in 2 comforters and went outside to sit in the 90+ degree heat. Eventually I made it back inside where my neighbor …

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Faces of Sepsis
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What is Sepsis?
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Military & Veterans

Many of today’s life saving medical and surgical procedures were first discovered or refined by the military.

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Mental Health

Sepsis survivors and family members of people who have had sepsis may find themselves experiencing emotional and psychological issues that can make it difficult to move forward.

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It’s About Time™

It’s About TIME™ is a national initiative to raise awareness of sepsis and the urgent need to seek treatment when symptoms are recognized.

Early detection is the best hope to survive and limit disabilities when sepsis is present.
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Erin’s Campaign for Kids

IN MEMORY OF ERIN BUG FLATLEY | 1978 – 2002

Erin’s Campaign for Kids aims to combat the high incidence and mortality rates of sepsis among children. The campaign creates awards and training programs for nurses and other health professionals to help identify and treat a disease that, by conservative estimates, causes over 18 child deaths per day or 6,800 child deaths in the United States every year, more than pediatric cancers.

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