Demetrius Purvis

My husband was a healthy 37-year-old, who had recently lost weight. He walked our dogs three miles and day and thought he was doing everything right to ensure we’d be together till we were old and gray. My husband had decided to take a week off work for a mini vacation to celebrate my birthday. During his vacation he mentioned that he was more tired than usual, but we thought nothing of it and I just urged him to relax not knowing that we now believe that his body was starting to turn on him.

On the evening of July 13, 2015 (the eve of our daughter’s 19th birthday, we also have a 9-year-old daughter), my husband and I were watching TV, when his heart suddenly stopped. Once the EMTs arrived, it took 4 tries to start his heart and my husband lapsed into a coma. It wasn’t until he was in the hospital for a couple days that one of his nurses suggested that he be tested for possible sepsis after his kidneys failed.

By the time the results came back as positive, both his kidneys had failed and he was placed on dialysis. Shortly after he went into liver shock and his blood glucose levels plummeted. For 5 days the medical staff struggled to sustain my husband’s life, but on July 19, 2015, his heart stopped for the last time.

We weren’t ever able to determine what type of infection caused his sepsis. Oh, how I wish I would have been more educated about this terrible beast called sepsis before, maybe my husband would still be with us. I will continue to tell our story in hopes that one less heart can be broken.

Source: by Tanesha Purvis (Demetrius's wife)