A mum who thought she was suffering from backache on Christmas Day collapsed in pain before waking up days later to the news that she needed all four of her limbs amputated.
Sadie Kemp, 34, was building toys for her youngest son after enjoying her Christmas dinner when she started to feel pain in her back.
“I was eating my Christmas dinner at 2.30pm with my family and having a laugh and by 5pm I was fighting for my life," she told the Mirror.
“I had decided to build a play kitchen I had bought for my youngest son.
“I thought my back was hurting from bending over and putting all the screws in but then my back pain got worse.
“I said I was going to go for a bath but half an hour later I was screaming in pain on the floor saying I felt like someone was squeezing my kidney.”
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Sadie, from Peterborough, went to A&E and was given pain relief before being told to come back if the pain worsened - but by the early hours of Boxing Day, she was back in hospital, where she collapsed in front of doctors.
The mum-of-two was on life support for two weeks before she eventually woke up and found out that she had gone into septic shock from a kidney stone, causing the skin on her arms and legs to become necrotic.
Doctors told Sadie she was a medical miracle for surviving the ordeal, but they were even more shocked when the tissue on her arms started to heal.
“They had been pumping me full of medicines to keep my organs alive but the limbs furthest away had suffered," Sadie said.
“There was no blood supply to my arms and legs and the tissue had started to die.
“At first they told me they were going to take all four limbs but as the days went on the skin started to heal.”
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition whereby tissue and organs begin to die or become necrotic as the body tries to respond to another infection affecting the immune system.
Despite the news that the sepsis had started to retreat, Sadie’s hands were already too damaged to save and doctors at Peterborough City Hospital made the decision to amputate all 10 fingers.
Her hands will now be sewn inside her stomach to keep the remaining tissue alive while surgeons make a similar decision about whether to amputate her feet or both her legs from below the knee.
Sadie was living with her two sons, Kenzie, 16, and Hendrix, two, in a home provided by a charity after going through an expensive divorce.
But, she says she has now been left without a home, as she claims she is now classed as ‘disabled’ and no longer eligible for the house because it has stairs.
On top of that, she has had to pack in her job as a Covid track and trace officer because her life-changing injuries mean she can no longer drive.
“I’m just trying to get my head around why this happened and how this happened," Sadie said.
“It has left me without a job and a house.
“I’m not earning money for my kids. They haven’t got a roof over their heads and that makes me feel terrible. I just want to be there for them and give them some security
“I was going through a divorce before this which had already cost me £10,000.
“I’d just met my new partner and I thought I was finally starting from scratch and getting somewhere and then sepsis hit.”
Friends and family have set up a GoFundMeto help Sadie find a permanent place to stay when she is finally able to leave hospital.
The mum insists she will do ‘everything in her power’ to get through her recovery for her two boys and new partner, Lewis, who has stayed by her side through it all.
She said: “When I first woke up I told my mum she should have turned off the life support.
“But she said ‘would I rather my kids visit me at my hospital bed or at my grave’.
“I’ve realised I have been given a second chance at life."
She continued: “The doctors have told me they are so confused that I’m still here, I shouldn’t be alive given the amount of poison I had in my blood.
“I feel like a force to be reckoned with, and like a warrior.
“I wouldn’t be here without the amazing support of the doctors and my friends and family so now I am determined to get through it for them.”
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