Rick Wallace

My husband died of sepsis at age 55. Many of these stories are very familiar to me. He ran a fever off and on for about a week, and experienced lethargy and major joint pain. We assumed he had some type of flu. When we finally went to the doctor, they ran a blood culture and called back the next morning telling us to go immediately to the hospital because he was “very sick”.

Rick was admitted and many tests were run. We didn’t realize by that time, his kidneys were already shutting down and his vitals were way off. His condition declined quickly. By that evening, he was in a Critical Care Unit and in the early morning, he was transferred to ICU.

Dialysis was started and he was put in a medical coma so that he could rest. Within a day, he was in a full coma and all other organs began to shut down. He finally lost his battle after cardiac arrest after 5 days in the hospital. I am very grateful to the hospital staff and their willingness to never give up even when they knew it was hopeless.

What I learned from this horror story is that you don’t take the words “compromised immune system” lightly (Sepsis and an Impaired Immune System). A year before, we were told he had some liver damage due to weight and type II diabetes (Sepsis and Diabetes) – and therefore his immune system was compromised. His doctors did not emphasize the seriousness or implications enough. It was shocking to learn that sepsis can do this – that it could cause someone to die, and die so quickly.

My hope is that this site and the stories will educate people on the signs and symptoms. And if you have been told that your immune system is compromised, stay hyper aware for symptoms. The mystery with my husband is that we never found out where the initial infection came from. Even after an autopsy, no site was ever found.

My husband was kind, funny and well respected. He loved his family more than anything. His co-workers spoke highly of his wit and character. He is missed every day.