Madison C.

Madison C.
Survivor

On November 19, 2014 I came home from school feeling sick and after a trip to the Urgent Care I found out I had mono. I was told that I would feel sick and very tired for a few weeks and to take it easy. I went home assuming I would be fine. The next night I was taken to the ER because of dehydration. After two bags of fluid I was sent home and assured it was just the mono.

The next day, my father came home and found me on the bathroom floor barely able to move. He immediately took me back to the hospital. My blood pressure was 78/34 and I was in septic shock. I don’t remember much from that night except for being transferred to a local children’s hospital. The very last thing I remember is the paramedics pushing me into the elevator and saying “she’s going to two.” (I now know that is the PICU floor) I woke up four days later from a coma. It felt like I had just fallen asleep for the night and it was the next morning.

I had no idea how sick I had been or that the doctors told my family that I would most likely not be able to breath on my own, and if I could I would have severe mental disabilities. They told my dad that if he had gotten home even ten minutes later I would not have survived. I feel so beyond blessed to not only have survived but to be here today completely recovered and able to share my story. Through my experience I found my passion and am now in nursing school. I often think about my experience and feel so lucky to have survived such a deadly illness. Many people look at sepsis as something that happens to other people but the truth is that I can easily happen to anyone.

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