Greg Mulligan

Our youngest son, Greg, passed away from sepsis on January 27, 2014 – one week before his 32nd birthday.

Five years earlier, Greg had been admitted to the hospital with a kidney stone. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones) During the CT scan, the doctor noted that his spleen was enlarged three times its normal size. His spleen was removed and after a year of testing, he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Greg remained diligent about following up quarterly with blood tests and scans, since the spleen is an organ that helps fight infections. People without a spleen are immunocompromised – they can get infections easily. But Greg kept on top of his flu and pneumonia vaccinations. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System)

In November of 2013, he was diagnosed with sepsis. The cause was unknown. His physician prescribed outpatient antibiotic therapy over the course of three weeks, and Greg responded very well. He finished his antibiotics on a Thursday in early December. That Saturday, our family and close friends went on our annual Christmas tree cutting expedition. What a fun day! Greg felt great. Two days later, he called to tell me he was running an extremely high fever, and had been back to the doctor. The doctor had given him a strep throat test, blood test, told him to take Motrin and sent him home to wait for the results from the tests. Since Greg was single and lived alone, I wasn’t comfortable with him running such a high fever and being by himself. I pulled a “mom” trick, and told him I wanted him to spend the night at our house so we could keep an eye on him. I told him to pack his toothbrush and I’d be over to pick him up. He complained, but I wouldn’t take no for an answer.

I picked him up and drove him immediately to the emergency room. The sepsis had returned with a vengeance. He was admitted to ICU and was in the hospital for a week on IV antibiotics. After his blood work came back negative two days in a row without any infection, he was released with a PICC line (for self-administered IV antibiotics). This was just a few days before Christmas. He self-administered antibiotics for another two weeks AFTER he left the hospital – just to be on the safe side. Again, all follow-up tests came back negative. The sepsis appeared to be gone.

During NFL football playoffs on January 19, 2014, we were at a Greg’s godparents’ house watching the game, enjoying homemade pizza. Greg seemed fine. He left at half-time to watch the rest of the game with his friends. By Tuesday evening, we called 911. Within the hour, he was in ICU. Within a week, he had lost his hard-fought battle with sepsis.

We held a celebration of Greg’s life on what would have been his 32nd birthday, February 3, 2014.

A special thank you to family, friends, co-workers and the Sepsis Alliance for helping the Mulligan family through a very difficult time.

Whenever our granddaughter, Evelyn, asks ”What star in the sky is Uncle Greg?” and the answer is always, “The brightest one.”

Source: by Kay Mulligan (Greg's mother)