A woman who was hailed a 'medical miracle' after surviving her sepsis battle has had to have all four limbs amputated. At the end of last year, 35-year-old Sadie Kemp went into septic shock and revealed her two children are the "main reason" why she is "getting on with it”.
Almost a year after her body went into septic shock, the Cambridgeshire mum has now had to have 10 fingers amputated and both legs below the knee. The mum from Peterborough had been waiting to see if doctors could save more of her right leg but it was later confirmed that both legs would need to be amputated below the knee as they were both necrotic from the sepsis.
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that occurs when your immune system responds to an infection and starts to damage your body’s tissue and organs or they become necrotic. Septic shock happens when someone with sepsis has a severe drop in blood pressure which can be fatal.
The Cambridgeshire mum's battle began as she was rushed to A&E in agonising pain on Christmas Day in 2021 with what she thought was back pain. She was given pain relief and was told to come back if it got worse. By the early hours of Boxing Day, Sadie returned to the hospital where she collapsed in front of doctors, reports CambridgeshireLive.
Sadie woke up from life support two weeks later and was told she would need to have all four limbs amputated. She had gone into septic shock from a kidney stone which caused the skin on her arms and legs to become necrotic.
She survived the ordeal and was hailed as a ‘medical miracle’, spending 103 nights at Peterborough City hospital where she had to have all 10 fingers amputated and went through extensive recovery. The mum-of-two returned home to her two sons, Kenzie, 17, and Hendrix, two, in April this year and waited for news about her double leg amputation.
On August 18, 2022, Sadie underwent the double amputation on her legs at a hospital in London. She was always aware that she would need to have both legs amputated, however when it came to the day of the operation she said: "It felt like my whole world had been turned upside down.
"Because I had learned how to walk using my boots on the feet it was like I was going backwards to go forward. It was like I was taking a step backwards in my recovery and to be able to be independent again”.
Ten days after the amputation Sadie could come home. "I was a bit nervous about my children’s reactions to how my legs looked," Sadie said. "But they were absolutely fine, it was like nothing had happened. It was really good to be home."
She has been using a wheelchair and has been ‘casted up’ to receive two prosthetic legs on October 4. Talking about getting these Sadie said: "I’m excited, I’m excited to get legs again, wear what I want again and to be able to do things for myself. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m feeling really positive, I can’t wait to get socialising again".
Looking back on the year, Sadie added: "I kind of still don't believe that it's happened to me. I don't know if that's me not accepting it and just getting on or if it’s going to hit me a year or a few months down the line that it's actually happened to me. But I think I’m getting on with it and I think the only reason I am is because I'm a mum and I have two kids, so it's my main reason why I'm getting on with it”.
Sadie has undergone several operations on her hands after leaving hospital in April, and has a few more “very minor operations” but explained that she will “get up and going walking on my legs first and then have those done”. She is hoping to get two fully functioning prosthetic hands, adding that without these "It's going be very difficult for me to put on prosthetic legs with no hands”.
Sadie's friends set up a GoFundMe whilst she was on life support to help raise money in order for her to get the two fully functioning robotic prosthetic hands at £35,000 each. So far they have raised a staggering £48,791 but it needs to secure £70,000 in total with Sadie continuing to raise money for them.
The mum-of-two wanted to thank the critical care team who looked after her at Peterborough City Hospital so she held a fundraising event in the summer where she raised £2,011. On her 35th birthday, Sadie visited the team to give them the money.
She added: "They saved my life and if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be seeing another birthday." Sadie also delivers mindset talks to children at schools and colleges, sharing her own sepsis story and talking about importance of a positive mindset and how to achieve goals.
“"All I want to do is help people, so being a motivational speaker is amazing" Sadie said. Having previously been a Covid technician Sadie said she’s “on to another path now". She went on to say: "I can’t dwell on what I had, I’ve just got to focus on what I have now and what I can build on." And added that “Laughter is definitely the best medicine".
