As many of you know, at the start of August 2021 our beautiful mother passed away and left a gaping hole in our lives that will never be filled. What many of you are perhaps unaware of is that she died as a result of Sepsis, an illness so brutal, that acts so suddenly, that she went from laughing, joking and helping Laura with DIY in her new house to being in a medically induced coma in a matter of weeks. Although she fought a remarkable fight and a week later, not only regained consciousness but was sitting up laughing with us once again, making memories that we will never forget, sadly less than 48 hours after, the illness took over and she couldn’t fight any more.

The reason for us doing this run is to make people aware of this horrendous condition that can affect any one of any age and can escalate rapidly to life threatening levels. Many people are under the impression that in order to have sepsis, you must have a high a temperature, my mum never presented with a temperature. One of the indicators as displayed in the information above, is that the patient feels like they may be close to death, sadly my mum told us this but as with many people was unlikely to describe themselves in this way to a medical professional. We had a gut feeling something was seriously wrong and she did have contact with Doctors on a number of occasions but is likely to have played down her symptoms due to not wanting to sound like she was being dramatic and not wanting to bother anyone, as was her nature.

We will now try our best, in the name of our mother to help raise awareness of this largely unknown killer and spread the message of the UK Sepsis Trust. The message is this… If you or a loved one has been feeling ill with an infection, of any sort, you feel worse than you have felt in your life, you feel something is “just not right” or have any of the symptoms above please ask “ Could it be Sepsis?” and then ask your GP/ medical professional “ Could it be Sepsis”. They will not think you are being dramatic and they will not be annoyed at you for taking up their time. Early intervention is key, lives can be saved. Please do not soldier on and suffer.

Our mum was a strong, dignified lady with a high tolerance for pain but this illness was too much for her to fight, we can’t bear to hear of another person losing someone in this way, the pain is unbearable. Sending love and light, hoping this will make even a tiny difference to someone somewhere.