Charly A.

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 found me and called an ambulance. I was admitted to the ICU after it was determined that I was experiencing septic shock from what was later determined to be strep pneumonia. (Sepsis and Pneumonia)

A year later I became septic again and was admitted to the ICU due to an infection in my gut.

I want to note that I am immunosuppressed after having been on a long course of prednisone in 1991 after a bone marrow transplant, and again after being diagnosed with idiopathic cytopenic purpura in 1996, for which I had to have my spleen removed. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System)