'I did feel like I was going to die': Sepsis claims almost 3,000 deaths a year

Conor Callaghan from Lucan who became seriously ill after developing sepsis in March of this year and was treated in three dublin hospitals Blanchardstown, Beaumont and the Mater. Picture: Moya Nolan

"I was told I was too fit and too aware for it to be sepsis."

Desperately unwell in March of this year, Conor Callaghan, a fit 24-year-old training for a marathon, asked medical staff if he might have sepsis. 'No' was the answer, "not at all".

“I just had to ask the question because I feared the worst, I did feel like I was going to die and that was one of the symptoms,” he said. “Sepsis is a 24-hour killer and I had it for five days.”

Mr Callaghan, living in Lucan, was suffering from night sweats, a fever and chills in March of this year. “I was just generally unwell, I didn’t think too much of it,” he said and explained that he remained in bed for three days.

“I woke up with blurred vision and I could barely get out of the bed,” he said. Mr Callaghan had a temperature of 40.1C and decided to go straight to A&E.

“I asked in the hospital, could it be sepsis, and the response was: ‘No, not at all, you’re too well and fit and you’re too well aware’,” he said. He was told it was probably a viral infection and was “pumped” with paracetamol.

Mr O'Callaghan was hospitalised for two nights before waking up in the middle of the night and suffering a long-lasting seizure.

He said:

I woke up the next morning and didn’t know where I was, hooked up to every machine and I found out that I had a bleed in the brain and an aneurysm on my left motor strip. 

His blood was 94% poisoned.

Mr Callaghan was transferred to Beaumont Hospital where he was told he needed surgery to remove the mycotic aneurysm which was caused by sepsis, but there was a “good chance” that he would be left paralysed due to its location.

It was decided to continue his course of antibiotics for a week before going ahead with the surgery, and “through a miracle” the aneurysm had clotted off, he said. “I thought I was out of the woods but they did a routine heart scan and found that the sepsis had damaged two valves in the heart,” he said.

Mr Callaghan was in hospital for another eight weeks waiting for open heart surgery at the end of May. “I made a good recovery, better than what anyone expected,” he said.

Mr Callaghan said there is not enough awareness, even in hospitals, of the risk posed by sepsis, saying: “The fact that I asked and they dismissed it straight away was a bit strange considering I did have it.” 

“It can happen to anyone, I’m only 24 and I was training for a marathon, I was fit and I ate well,” he said before adding: “They don’t know the cause of the infection, I had no cuts or bruises or scrapes.” 

He believes ads on radio and television highlighting the symptoms of sepsis would raise awareness and save many lives as a result.

Almost 3,000 deaths annually 

Almost 15,000 people contract sepsis in Ireland each year resulting in almost 3,000 deaths while a staggering 60% of all hospital deaths in Ireland are related to sepsis.

It kills more people in Ireland than heart attack, lung, colon and breast cancer combined, according to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

Carol Keogh spent four months in hospitals and a rehabilitation centre. Photo: Patrick Browne

Despite these shocking figures, campaigners such as the Irish Sepsis Foundation are fighting an uphill battle to raise awareness with year-on-year calls for Government support which would include advertisements.

The foundation, which was founded by Cork barrister Doireann O’Mahony, is “determined” to make sepsis a prominent topic of discussion within the Government in the coming months.

Carol Keogh lost all of her toes and a third of her left foot. Photo: Patrick Browne

The Irish Sepsis Foundation’s James Corcoran, who lost his sister Tracey to sepsis in 2020, said it is the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide.

“We aim to raise extensive awareness, as a recent survey conducted a few years ago revealed that only 28% of Ireland's population is fully informed about sepsis,” he said.

At the end of April 2021, Carol Keogh had what she thought was a virus, and due to covid restrictions at the time she had a consultation over the phone with her GP.

Ms Keogh who is now 60 years of age and lives in Wexford was advised by her GP that if the symptoms did not improve, she would be seen the following week.

In the days following her initial call, she remembers feeling generally sore and coughing along with an elevated temperature. Roughly a week after her symptoms began and the day after ringing her GP again, Ms Keogh’s husband rang for an ambulance in the middle of the night.

She had been shaking from the cold, with her teeth “rattling” and as the night progressed, she got worse feeling extremely nauseous and vomiting.

Carol Keogh: "I’ve got no toes except for one big toe and that’s getting infected at the moment so I’ll probably lose that as well.” Photo: Patrick Browne

“That’s the last thing I remember, I don’t even remember the ambulance coming. I remember waking up 18 days later. I had been intubated, and I had septic shock rather than just sepsis, so my system was breaking down,” she said.

Ms Keogh was one of the 1,190 cases of septic shock documented in 2021 and one of the 55% of people who did not die as a result. She awoke in the ICU unit almost three weeks after an ambulance arrived, before being moved to critical care.

“My husband had said to me that they were checking between my toes and fingers to see if there were any cuts because it’s so simple to get,” she said.

In total, she spent four months between Wexford General Hospital, St Vincent’s in Dublin and a rehabilitation centre.

After waking up, Ms Keogh was incredibly weak as a result of muscle waste, being unable to use her arms or legs as a result.

Doctors discovered the septic shock was a result of a perforated bowel, and due to the probability that she would die from surgery, it was decided to put her on a course of Noradrenaline. The medication is used to increase and maintain blood pressure in short-term serious health situations.

Within days of being admitted to the hospital, gangrene was discovered on her toes and different parts of her feet. This required amputation surgery in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, losing all of her toes and a third of her left foot.

Carol Keogh was unable to use her arms or legs after waking up from septic shock. Photo: Patrick Browne

The toes on her right foot were left to come off themselves in time.

“They just fell off, it was horrendous. I’ve got no toes except for one big toe and that’s getting infected at the moment so I’ll probably lose that as well,” she said while laughing, adding that humour has helped her and her family to get through the experience.

She was confined to a wheelchair for some time before transitioning to a walker, and can no longer drive as a result of her amputations.

“The impact has been absolutely huge,” she said adding that she was completely unaware of post-sepsis syndrome which resulted in “clumsiness”, hair coming out “in clumps” and weak nails. Mentally, she suffered from intense brain fog and forgetfulness.

Carol Keogh is still in a state of recovery, requiring further treatment for her feet as well as a colon bypass due to cysts. Photo: Patrick Browne

“That was really awful, I felt like I was stupid because I couldn’t remember things and from one minute to the next I was completely foggy,” she said before adding, “the recovery has been so much greater than you could imagine". 

“I just don’t know why I got sepsis; it was just a complete mystery to me. GPs don’t always pick it up and that’s what concerns me more than anything else,” she said.

Despite it being more than two years since she initially contracted sepsis, Ms Keogh is still in a state of recovery, requiring further treatment for her feet as well as a colon bypass due to cysts.

She said she was “blessed” to have observant doctors when she was admitted, however was shocked to hear that despite Mr Callaghan asking doctors if it could be sepsis, he was told no.