Against All Odds: My Sepsis Survival
In early November 2024, I had been feeling unwell for a few days. I had a fever, I was being sick, and I had diarrhoea. I honestly thought I had picked up a bug. On Tuesday morning, I rang in sick at work and went to see my doctor. He told me there was a viral infection going around and that I just needed to rest.
That evening, everything changed.
I woke up around 11 pm and could see people at my car. I thought they were trying to steal it, so I rang the police. When they arrived, nobody was there. About ten minutes later, I rang again because I could see them back at my car. This happened a few times. On the third call, the officers were going to arrest me for wasting police time, but one of them noticed I looked seriously unwell. I was hallucinating. Sepsis delirium had already set in. Those officers didn’t realise it at the time, but they saved my life. All I remember after that is walking towards the ambulance.
Hospital
I arrived at the hospital in the early hours of Wednesday, 13th November. I was in triage and had blood tests taken. I was told my sodium was dangerously low, my potassium was high, and my blood pressure was very low. I became unresponsive, and they put a tube down my throat to help me breathe.
I then suffered my first cardiac arrest. I was transferred to the ICU, where I suffered another cardiac arrest that lasted around eight to ten minutes. CPR was performed, and adrenaline was given to restart my heart.
My kidneys had stopped working, so I was put on dialysis. I was ventilated and heavily sedated. Very quickly, I went into multi-organ failure – neurological, renal, hepatic, and cardiovascular. The doctors and consultants didn’t know what had caused it. They inserted multiple arterial lines and started treating me for sepsis with strong antibiotics, but the source of infection was never found. Within about 12 hours of being admitted, my whole family was called in and told how critical my condition was.
The Worst Days
For the next day or so, my family stayed by my bedside waiting for me to die. On Friday, 15th November, the consultants spoke to my family about a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order. They explained I was too poorly to survive another cardiac arrest and that it would be inhumane to attempt CPR again. That same day, I had to be taken for a CT scan so doctors could try to find the source of the infection. My family was warned there was a real chance I might not survive the journey, because I was so unstable and would need to be disconnected from some of my life support to go. About an hour later, doctors and nurses wheeled me back into the ICU. I had made it through. After that, my blood results slowly started to show small signs of improvement.
ICU and Recovery
I was kept sedated for most of the next 23 days. I was only woken twice because I was still too unstable.
During my time in the ICU:
I was treated for sepsis with antibiotics
I remained on dialysis
I needed medications to keep my blood pressure up
I experienced ICU delirium
I had a tracheostomy
I lost around 3½ stone
Doctors later told me I was an enigma and nothing short of a miracle. I spent six weeks in total in the hospital. On the 18th of December, my dad wheeled me out because I was too weak to walk.
Life After
When I woke up, I had no memory of what had happened. I suffered memory loss, confusion, anxiety, and recurring nightmares. I needed physiotherapy and cognitive therapy because my brain wasn’t working properly at first. I have now finished both. All my organs are back to normal.
I’ve been back to the ICU at Royal Calderdale several times to thank the incredible doctors and nurses who saved my life. I’ve become good friends with a couple of the ICU nurses, and I will never forget the care I received there.
I’ve also been to the police station to personally thank the officers who noticed I was unwell that night. If it wasn’t for them, I would have died at home on my own. Doctors say I’m nothing short of a miracle.
I’d also like to thank the team at World Sepsis Day and the Global Sepsis Alliance for allowing me to share my journey. I hope my story raises awareness of the symptoms people need to look out for, confusion, being sick, diarrhoea, and feeling generally unwell. These signs can easily be missed, and people can deteriorate frighteningly fast.
I’m a dad to three girls, and I am a very grateful man today.
Justin Chancellor
The article above was written by Justin Chancellor and is shared here with his explicit consent. The views in the article do not necessarily represent those of the Global Sepsis Alliance. They are not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The whole team here at the Global Sepsis Alliance and World Sepsis Day wishes to thank him for sharing her story and for fighting to raise awareness for sepsis.