Alicia Ugarte

Survivor

The power of prayer is the power of God and I can easily prove it by sharing my story with you guys. This video will show some of what I went through.

The day I went in labor was one of the happiest days of my life, until it was ruined due to negligence. (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth) After I had my baby, I went into severe septic shock and cardiac shock. I got worse by the minute so I had to be put on life support and thankfully I was flown away to a better hospital in Nashville.

Once I was at the new hospital, I had to be put on the ECMO machine, and went into surgery, and the doctors told my family that I only had 2% chance of living due to how sick I was. I had to have 5 surgeries done and had a lot of blood transfusion because I kept loosing too much blood. My heart stopped but thank God I was brought back to life. All my organs shut down as well, and I developed jaundice. I had my uterus and one of my ovaries removed, and was in a coma for almost 2 weeks. When I woke up from my coma I was so scared and didn’t even know where I was, or what had happened to me. I even thought I was still pregnant, and it took me a week to remember that I already had my baby.

I could only lift up my fingers, and I couldn’t even ask all these questions going through my head because I had a tube in my mouth, and was hooked to so many things. But the first thing I saw when I woke up from my coma was my family and boyfriend there with me, and they explained everything to me. The first thing I wanted to do was hold hands and pray with them. They stayed there with me since day one! The care and love they showed for me was so pure, they never left me alone during almost 3 months of hospital stay. I was also so blessed for having such amazing and sweet nurses and doctors in the new hospital I was in Nashville. The doctors were so amazed by how fast I was recovering and called me their Christmas miracle ❤Although, it breaks my heart knowing my family, and boyfriend had to suffer so much for so many days without knowing what would happen next, but they never lost hope and they always had faith in God.

I’m still not able to fully walk, and I have to adjust to this new life style. The pain I’ve gone through has been horrible, not only physical pain, but emotional pain that not many can handle. I’ve shed so many tears. I was away from my newborn and it broke my heart every day. My happy moment of having my newborn was crushed all due to this. Most people that go into septic shock end up loosing their hands or their feet, but by the grace of God I only lost a toe! And I thank God every day for giving me a chance to live again, God knows how much I needed to be back to my newborn and be back to my family and boyfriend and loved ones.

I see life different now. I appreciate every little thing and never take anything for granted. I remember I cried when the tube was taken out and I was able to have my first glass of water! I wake up every morning thanking God for allowing me to still be here! Every single prayer was truly heard!! I was able to have Christmas with my family and loved ones in February after being discharged and it was amazing being back with them ❤️ So please never doubt the power of prayer, because God truly does listen to them! I went from 2% chance of living and God only knows how hard I fought, He knew it wasn’t my time to go yet! Even tho I can’t fully walk yet, or remember things as good as I used to, but I still pray and enjoy being alive! God will soon heal all my wounds! I will forever be grateful with God and with my family and loved ones for all the support and encouragement I’ve gotten from them.

Being a septic shock survivor inspired me to become an ICU Registered Nurse, I graduated as an RN in 2020.

Send us Your Story
Learn More about SepsisSupport Faces of Sepsis