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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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Judith Lipton

Survivor

I nearly died of sepsis almost exactly one year ago, starting on May 22, 2020. I want to tell my story especially since I may be among the few people who have lived through severe encephalopathy and survived without incapacitating brain damage. I also want to educate people about the signs of sepsis, and the need for informed consent. Thanks for listening to me. Even though I am a physician myself and my husband is a professional biologist, we did not recognize the initial signs of sepsis. We should have gone to the hospital right away, as soon as I …

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Jean Kestner

Survivor, Survivor

On July 11, 2015, I felt “off” – like I had an intestinal bug. I went to bed that evening and have little memory of anything else until four days later. My husband called the paramedics early the next morning when he spoke to me and I responded with gibberish. At one point after I had been in the ER for several hours, the doctors asked if I had a living will as my BP had flat-lined. I was taken to CCU in critical condition with a dx of septic shock. (Sepsis and Septic Shock) I made it through the …

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Cortina Pride

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

March 8th 2021, my water broke at 15 weeks 6 days. I had a cerclage in place due to an incompetent cervix and prior second trimester losses. On March 9th while still in the hospital, they were unable to detect my baby’s heartbeat via Doppler or ultrasound. She had passed away inside of me. Before I knew my baby had died, my body became very cold. I was shivering and couldn’t get warm even under three blankets. I knew something was wrong. I told the nurse that I didn’t feel right and I needed my doctor. My temperature had also …

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Judith Clark

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

In 2015 I was on a cruise ship on the Atlantic Ocean when my appendix ruptured. (Sepsis and Appendicitis) After hours of waiting, a Portuguese military helicopter airlifted me to the Ponte Delgada in the Azore Islands. I had a ruptured appendix and sepsis for about 8 hours. It was difficult to know how long I went with a ruptured appendix prior to surgery. After 5 hours of surgery and 2 weeks in the hospital, I returned home to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then I had 2 surgeries for an incisional hernia and 1 surgery for adhesiolysis. Through …

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Duffy Jennings

Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, Survivor

When I knelt down in a dusty Lake Tahoe campground one day last summer, something as infinitesimal as a speck of gravel punctured the skin on my kneecap, not painful enough for me to notice but just enough let in a virulent bug. (Sepsis and Bacterial Infections) For the next two weeks, that insidious microorganism grew undetected into a rampant infection that damned near killed me. By the time I finally showed up at the hospital, doctors told me, I had a day, maybe two, before septic shock would start shutting down my vital organs one by one until my …

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Faces of 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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