Fundraising is at the heart of our fight against sepsis: it raises awareness, and sparks the question: “What is sepsis?

44 teams of 5 across Mott MacDonald are taking part in this challenge to raise awareness. Please help support myself and my colleagues from the Newcastle office, in team 'Couch Potatoes'. Thanks to Sarah May, David Brooks, Ellen Hann and Sam Hardy for encouraging me to take part!

I had never heard of Sepsis despite having done several approved first aid courses over the years.

In 2016 a simple infection led to my mum's sudden death. On the Sunday, at my daughters 5th birthday party she complained of a sore throat; on the Wednesday she was well enough to pick up my two kids from school and take my daughter to her gym class, chatting, in a slightly hoarse voice with my son. Thursday she was a bit worse, Friday she kept out the way of her youngest granddaughter to avoid infection, as by now seemed to have some sort of stomach bug but was able to clean up her own bed linen.

On the Friday evening, my dad became aware she seemed to be slurring her words a bit, but in a call with the GP, as she was able to direct my dad how to cook his own evening meal, it was considered most likely due to the throat problem. The GP would call in on her way home. My mum was sat down to rest while my dad had his meal. By the time he had finished he was unable to rouse my mum.

In a postmortem, the only evidence of infection was that of a urinary tract infection. A simple infection led to my mum’s sudden death.

Please take your time to familiarise yourself with the symptoms, and consider encouraging me to get off my butt and get some steps in, in September to help raise awareness.

https://sepsistrust.org/about-sepsis/