Nancy Briggs

In 2011 I was unwell, being sick and dehydrated. I called my doctor and was told not to attend the surgery but drink water. There was no attempt at a diagnosis and I called out of hours medical help as I was so weak.

The doctor who responded told me I was dehydrated and should drink water. A few hours later my husband called 999 and I was taken to hospital as a serious sepsis case. At the hospital I was unconscious and my husband was told I would not survive the night with kidney and heart failure from an airborne virus. (Sepsis and Viral Infections) I left hospital after three months with diabetes from the sepsis damage.

In 2014 I caught a virus and was again not treated properly by the village surgery and was in a coma when the ambulance took me to hospital. I suffered a heart attack at the time and organ failure again. Once again my husband was told I could not survive. Once again through good hospital treatment I survived.

I now have breathing difficulties because the local doctors have taken no interest in my condition and seem generally to ignore the risk of sepsis. Hospital doctors are appalled by the lack of sepsis recognition in many general practitioners in surgeries.
My husband and I run a sepsis support group in connection with the UK Sepsis Trust to help survivors and their families but also to spread the word about the damage caused to victims and their families.