A dad lost both of his legs after sustaining a small cut on his hand which developed into life-threatening sepsis.
Darren Spence accidentally cut his hand on a machine, which is used to crush cardboard, while working in the warehouse at B&M. A week later, the 45-year-old, from Ashington, Northumberland, began to feel extremely ill, ChronicleLive reports.
He visited the A&E department at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington and was rushed to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for emergency treatment. Darren was found to have developed sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection, and was placed in a induced coma.
READ MORE:
He woke up three days later to find that his legs had turned black and he had lost the feeling in them. Around a month later, he had to have both legs amputated below the knee.
Darren, who is dad to Sam, eight, and Jacob, one, said: "I feel grateful to still be alive. I knew what sepsis was but I didn't know the symptoms. It was a shock that it could happen from a cut. It's shocked everybody that I have told."
The dad-of-two worked as a warehouse supervisor for the retail store in Ashington, where his partner Aimee Dunning, 26, also works as a cashier. He said he cut his right hand while working in April this year and thought nothing more about it.
Darren said: "It all started with a cut on my hand, it was a total accident. About a week later, I woke up feeling absolutely terrible. I started vomiting, I had aches and I had diarrhoea. I felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest.
"At first I felt like I could manage it. The next day I came downstairs saying 'Aimee I think I need to go to hosp' - I couldn't get the word hospital out. At that point I thought I was having a stroke."
Darren said he was getting "worse and worse" as he waited with Aimee in the waiting room at the hospital. He said: "My partner got her mam and dad to look after our youngest son and we went through to the hospital.
"At one point I was in the toilets lying down because I didn't have any strength. Somebody came in and asked if I needed help. I told my partner I couldn't feel my feet, it felt like pins and needles."
Darren said that he was pre-assessed during triage before being told that he would need to be transferred to the Freeman Hospital. He said he remembers being placed into the ambulance but cannot remember anything else until he woke up in intensive care.
He said: "I didn't know where I was, it was very strange. When they told me I had had sepsis I was like wow. I had my legs for about a month - I think the doctors thought they would be able to save them.
"I knew, in my own head, I was going to lose them so I prepared myself a bit. I could tell by the colour of them and the lack of feeling. I was starting to not be able to feel them at all."
Around four weeks later, Darren underwent surgery to remove one leg below the knee followed by the second a week later. He returned home from hospital in June and has spent the last few months adapting to being in a wheelchair.
Darren has now returned to work at B&M and he is now completing office talks. Earlier this week, he received his new prosthetic legs. He said: "I want to get on with my life and play football with the little one.
"I'm looking at life differently. I feel very lucky to have survived something like this that's why I have taken it as well as I have.
"Ever since I came back to work everybody says I'm happier now then I was with my legs. I feel more confidence in myself for some reason. A lot of people thought I would be more self-conscious about it.
"I've had a few people come up to me and say 'do you work here?' When I say 'yes' they've said 'good on you son'."
Darren has decided to release pictures of his legs as he wants other people to be aware of sepsis and the damage which it can cause. He said: "When I look at my legs I feel a little bit gutted but life goes on.
"Sometimes I do get upset a little, but I just pull myself around and say you need to give your head a shake - it could have been a hell of a lot worse."
Darren's sister Leanne Charlton, 40, from Ashington, has set up a Go Fund Me page to help Darren become mobile again and get his independence back. She has so far managed to raise almost £1400 in donations.
Leanne, who is mum to Keira, 17, and Alfie, 10, visited Darren in hospital with Aimee. She said that at one point the hospital rang to tell them to come straight away so they could say goodbye to him as his health had deteriorated.
The mum-of-two, who works as a catering assistant at Wansbeck General Hospital in her home town, said: "Sepsis had affected all of his organs. As the day went on he got a tiny little bit better and they brought him out of the coma.
"His legs were too damaged, they were black and there wasn't much he could do. He had to have both legs removed because of a little cut. It's brought him out to be a different person. He sees life in a totally different way."
Darren wants to thank the staff at the Freeman Hospital, who he describes as "absolutely brilliant" as well as his family and his partner Aimee. He added: "I want to think my partner for being there all the time, she never missed one single visit and she hasn't slept upstairs since. She's slept on the couch next to me.
"It's really shocked me how much people care in the community, it makes me very proud. I'm just hoping to get some adaptions done to the house to make things easier."
According to the NHS, sepsis, also known as blood poisoning and septicaemia, happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body's own tissues and organs. Symptoms of sepsis include the following:
- Acting confused, slurred speech or not making sense
- Blue, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, blueness may be easier to see on the lips, tongue or gums, under the nails or around the eyes
- A rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis
- Difficulty breathing, breathlessness or breathing very fast
Symptoms in babies and young children include:
- Blue, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, blueness may be easier to see on the lips, tongue or gums, under the nails or around the eyes
- A rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis
- difficulty breathing (you may notice grunting noises or their stomach sucking under their ribcage), breathlessness or breathing very fast
- A weak, high-pitched cry that's not like their normal cry
- Not responding like they normally do, or not interested in feeding or normal activities
- Being sleepier than normal or difficult to wake
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- Dad accused of murdering baby daughter denies lying to police and insists 'I did not cause these horrible injuries to my little girl'
- Woman took teenage son on revenge mission against her mum after complaining she had been frozen out of family will
- Man went to the doctor with sporadic back pain and gets horrifying diagnosis
- Manchester's lost burger bar loved as much for its cocktails 'paved the way for McDonald's'
- Student, 19, at centre of Fallowfield murder investigation named as family pays tribute to 'bubbly, lively, beautiful boy'
