Dan Gray

I contracted sepsis in Dec 21 having been a healthy, strong never sick individual my whole life. A firearms cop who practices martial arts and trains daily in the gym… Couldn’t happen to me right?

I was rushed to hospital after feeling ill for a few days when my left knee and leg swelled up to near 10x the size and the pain was unimaginable. It was red and boiling to touch, my heart rate was usually 50 resting but was 145 and my BP was dropping. I was admitted to hospital and had emergency surgery planned where I was told how serious it was and the doctors suspected sepsis. I made a goodbye video to my wife and baby on the advice of my nurse as she wasn’t allowed in the hospital due to C19 rules. Not only did I know I had sepsis now, I also had to face the fact I may die alone if this goes wrong.

I had an aspiration immediately in A and E followed by emergency surgery to aspirate as much fluid and ‘bad’ out of my knee as possible but ended up having another emergency surgery a month later because they thought the infection may be in my bone. I spent the next 6-7 months in and out of hospital on IV antibiotics and generally not getting better quickly. I was told I had lost 80% of muscle in my legs and had to face the real prospect of not walking unaided again and at minimum walking with a gait.

Then the recovery started. Initially I hated my self and my body and felt like I’d let my family and myself down by being sick. I had PTSD from the whole ordeal but couldn’t admit this until around 6 months post hospital stays. After having a coaching programme with my wife who is a trained coach, I now refused to believe this normal of not walking again was an option for me, knowing some sepsis survivors have it a lot worse and that I could get better.

I worked hard in physio for nearly a year, sought EMDR therapy for the PTSD element and worked every single day on my physical and mental health with the support of my incredible family.

Today I find myself back training Brazilian JuJitSu, squatting during weightlifting and walking up mountains with my family; all of this I was told I wouldn’t do again.

I want to tell my story to tell you that if you have sepsis right now, or are in recovery then you can do it. You can get better. I searched for stories of someone like me, super fit, super healthy who got sepsis through a bad luck injury but then came back to a phenomenal version of themselves and I struggled to find that story to resonate with while I got better. So if that’s you, if you’re even one person who resonates with this know YOU CAN DO IT. Since recovery I have had a new baby, got a new job, enhanced my relationship with my wife and am starting my own business. Sepsis nearly took my life, but instead it gave me a new lease of one.

My big take aways:

Ask for help
Know the road is long but achievable
Support your mental AND physical health
Love yourself through it
Talk, talk, talk
Survive, then support others to do the same.