Chris Gomez

On the night of February 16, 2010 I woke up vomiting and in terrible pain. I was not sure what was going on, but I knew it was something serious. I told my wife that I needed to go to the emergency room right away. I barely remember what happened that night. I remember the emergency room being cold. I remember the nurses saying that I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. I do not remember any more than that. Ten days later, I regained consciousness and the severity of what had happened set in.

On the night I was taken to the hospital my body was going into septic shock. (Sepsis and Septic Shock) I had strep throat and the infection spread to my lungs causing pneumonia in both lungs. (Sepsis and Strep Throat, Sepsis and Pneumonia) The infection spread to my blood stream and began infecting all of my organs. My body did not respond well to this infection and I was dying. I had to be put on a ventilator for ten days while the doctors tried to figure out how to help me.

I was not responding to anything they were doing. The doctors decided to inject me with the white blood cells of other people. Miraculously, I began to fight off the infection. My organs were getting stronger and I was beginning to get better. The doctors pulled me off the ventilator once my lungs were strong enough and I could breathe on my own. Somehow I had survived.