Josh Peters

Hi, my name is Josh. I am a survivor of severe sepsis. It all started with a simple infected hair under my arm, but within two days I knew I wasn’t right. I couldn’t sleep, eat, move, and I was constantly in pain. Working as an EMT, I knew some about sepsis (or at least thought I did). I went to the ER and the MD sent me home with oral antibiotics and a follow-up two days after.

I began vomiting constantly, turned solid red, and couldn’t feel much in my hands or feet. I went back one day after being discharged. The doctor lanced the now swollen mass and drained it. I was discharged yet again. Nothing ever got better. I returned to the ER. This time they drew labs and then discovered I was severely septic, dehydrated and also in liver and kidney failure. I was immediately transferred. I spent the next 4 days in an ICU step down unit on IV antibiotics. Those four days I couldn’t stop thinking how this happened to me? I’m a normally healthy 19-year=old kid? How did this happen?

The doctors told my family there was a chance I might not make it. It destroyed my family they were constantly on edge. My mother and father never left my side. Two days into my stay, the nurse informed me I had become overhydrated. By then I could tell since I was breathing so fast. For some reason I couldn’t tell the doctor who said he couldn’t give me anything to excrete the fluid even though my kidneys seemed to be starting to work. I was drowning, in a bed with no water.

The next day I was able to breathe adequate on my own. The day following I improved a lot. Thankfully the lord wanted me to stay on this earth for longer. I now am home and struggling with septic arthritis in my knees and neck. I want to educate others that no matter how young,healthy, or how small of infection. It could lead to sepsis.