"Six hours away from death": Man from Lewes shares story of surviving Sepsis

Walter Hall was looking forward to Christmas as a 16-year-old, when he started to feel unwell with what he thought were flu symptoms, little did he know he was close to dying from a devastating condition.

Walter said: “I thought my Christmas would be ruined by the fact that I wasn’t well enough to go to the Christmas party.

"Little did I know that over the course of the next 24 hours, I would find myself dangerously close to not living long enough to see the New Year.”

Sepsis occurs when the body’s response to an infection spirals rapidly out of control, injuring its own tissues and organs which can result in multiple organ failure and death.

Approximately five lives are lost to sepsis every hour in the UK – with many people knowing very little about the condition.

Walter continued: “I’d had winter flu before and, while this one seemed particularly draining, as I went to sleep on that night of December 23, I felt confident I would be feeling back up to strength by Christmas Day.

"However, in the early hours of the morning, I awoke in an unbearable hot sweat, feeling delirious and very sick.

“I remember very little of how it felt and the details of what happened as my body became overwhelmed by illness. I suddenly shifted from feeling incredibly hot to being incredibly cold."

The five key symptoms of sepsis are – confusion, not passing as much urine as normal, a very high or low temperature, uncontrolled shivering and cold or blotchy arms and legs.

Walter was starting to experience all of these symptoms and feared he was about to die.

The 20-year-old said: "By this point, my mum had woken up and she put me in the bath to clean me up as I had had uncontrollable diarrhoea.

“I sat in the bath, shivering. I don’t know how long I was there, but at the time it felt like forever; I was in so much pain.

"I couldn’t think and then I realised that my eyes were open but I couldn’t see. There was just black. I was so scared I thought I was about to die. My dad was on the phone to the hospital but a paramedic couldn’t be sent round until the morning. I didn’t sleep. We waited up until the paramedics arrived.”

The paramedics, however, failed to recognise the symptoms of sepsis with one of them concluding Walter was suffering from a very bad bout of flu and saw no need for him to be taken to hospital.

Fortunately, as they were about to leave, the second paramedic decided Walter should be taken to hospital for further checks and he was blue-lighted to the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton – a decision that saved his life.

Walter said: “I suppose it must have been her instinct. Feebly, I made my way downstairs and they managed to get me into the ambulance.

"The journey was horrible. I had no idea where I was going, I couldn’t process any information – I was still in a state of delirium. They hooked me up to a drip and desperately pumped fluid into my body.

"Next followed a dizzying few hours as doctors and nurses ran around me in the emergency ward. I tried to answer their questions, they took tests, oxygen masks were put over my face and drips were put into my arms. I still didn’t know where I was.

“As I began to come round, I was told I was at the Children’s Hospital in Brighton. A doctor told me that when I arrived I was about six hours away from death and I was lucky to be alive.

“The disease had made me incredibly weak. On Christmas Day, as the nation tucked into turkey-dinners and pulled crackers, I was just able to stomach half a piece of toast.

"For the next week I stayed with my mum in the ward. After four or five days I tried walking again. It was like learning to for the first time. Eventually I was able to hobble to the bathroom.”

Following a week of tests, the doctors at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital found that Walter was suffering from sepsis arising from swine flu.

Walter said: “The doctors were puzzled as I was a healthy 16-year-old, I had no underlying health conditions. I was just unlucky.

“On New Year’s eve I was let out of hospital. It was just in time for us to make it to see Hamilton in London – a much-anticipated Christmas present. I will forever be indebted to the NHS – the doctors, the nurses, the paramedics who helped save my life.”

Sepsis Awareness Month takes place every September - with World Sepsis Day on September 13 - so that more people learn about this devastating condition.

Sepsis Research FEAT is the UK’s only charity dedicated to funding research into sepsis while also working to raise awareness of this life-threatening condition.

The charity’s campaigns rely on supporters like Walter sharing their sepsis stories to help others learn about sepsis and the five key symptoms to look out for.

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Colin Graham, chief operating officer at Sepsis Research FEAT, said: “We are so grateful to Walter for taking part in our Sepsis Awareness Month campaign. Our hope is that by sharing stories like his, many more people will learn how to spot sepsis and more lives can be saved.

“Please spread the word about sepsis this September. You can also get involved by helping to raise money to fund vital sepsis research and awareness work through our Give Us 5! campaign. Any support you can give will help our charity in the fight against sepsis.”