‘I thought I just had a cold – but I lost part of my leg to sepsis’

Alex Plank, 41, from Sheffield, survived life-threatening sepsis after initially thinking she had a bad cold. She suffered a cardiac arrest shortly after reaching hospital and was resuscitated; her experience shows how quickly sepsis can become critical and how profoundly it can affect survivors and their families.

After six weeks in critical care and three months in hospital, Alex had her right leg amputated below the knee, lost the toes on her left foot and some fingers, and suffered damage to her heart, lungs and kidneys. She has since retrained as a teaching assistant, completed physiotherapy and strength training, and taken part in the Sheffield 10k. UK figures cited in the article estimate at least 245,000 sepsis cases and about 48,000 related deaths each year.