Sepsis: 'The doctor said Barbara was the sickest child he had ever seen'

Barbara Data is lucky to still be alive after a near-fatal encounter with sepsis that even required her to be flown to Sweden for a crucial medical intervention that saved her life, writes Helen O’Callaghan

Agnieszka and Piotr Data with their eight and a half year old daughter Barbara who as a result of developing sepsis had her legs amputated below the knees, and has very recently come home from hospital. Photograph: Moya Nolan

There have been many petrifying moments for Agnieszka and Piotr Data since their eight-year-old daughter got sepsis four months ago.

There was the moment early on when a doctor said Barbara was the sickest child he had ever seen.