Jason Watkins has spoken out about his family's grief following the death of their his young daughter.
The Crown actor and his wife, Clara Francis, have opened up about the emotional experience of Maudie's death at the age of two and a half from a condition which will feature in a new ITV documentary this evening at 9pm. Jason & Clara: In Memory of Maudie will see the couple discussing sepsis with medical professionals as well as providing advice on how to support families that have lost loved ones.
Maudie died 11 years ago after developing a chest infection around the New Year of 2011. While she was initially told she had a bad cold and was discharged, she later died that night - it was soon discovered she had sepsis.
At a screening for the documentary in London, Watkins told the PA news agency: “It’s celebrating and remembering her. There is the sort of campaigning side of it, the awareness of sepsis and more funding for sepsis awareness and clinical care.
"And then there is the real emotional side of losing a child within society generally, but then we’re sharing our families’ grief and our memories so there are lots of things going on. I hope us being so open as a family and a couple will encourage people to talk about bereavement within families, in all generations as well.
“So that perhaps older generations who are less inclined to talk about it, they can be able to extend their love. Because there’s a big thing of sweeping it under the carpet and just getting on with it. I think those days are gone.”
Sepsis is a life-threatening illness that happens when your immune systems goes into overdrive from an infection and begins to damage the body's own tissues and organs. While the early stages of sepsis, flu, and chest infections display similar symptoms, chief operating officer at Sepsis Research FEAT, said there are five symptoms people should keep an eye out for.
Extreme temperatures
Sepsis can result in a person's body developing either a high or low fever (hypothermia). Graham said: "Hypothermia during sepsis is considered very dangerous.
"There’s more risk of fatality than when a patient develops a fever.”
Uncontrollable shivering
Because sepsis can result in a drop of the body's temperature, severe shivering is another response to look out for. It can often be a sign that the body is attempting to increase its temperature to fight an infection.
Confused state of mind
People suffering from sepsis can enter a confused mental state due to the fact that the illness can cause acute inflammation and swelling. This makes it difficult to breath and therefore drops your oxygen levels.
“Low levels of oxygen in the blood can cause mental confusion and delirium,” said Graham.
Diffculty passing urine
In the later stages of sepsis, the body's blood pressure can dip to extremely low levels. This means not enough blood and oxygen can reach the body's organ.
Ultimately, this can result in organ failure and when kidneys begin to fail, it results in little urine output, according to Graham.
Blotchy or cold limbs
When someone is suffering from sepsis, the body's clotting mechanism can go into overdrive. This results in nutrients not reaching the tissues of the fingers, hands, arms, toes, feet, and legs.
Because of this, the body's tissues being to day, resulting in the skin looking mottled or blotchy and may appear bluesh. In severe cases, dead skin can turn black with limbs potentially needing amputation.
While on their own these symptoms can indicate other health problems, Graham highlights that a combination of two or more that become progressively worse means you should seek urgent medical attention by dialling 999 or going to A&E.
He noted that for every hour treatment is delayed, the chance of survival is reduced by over 7 per cent.
Jason and Clara: In memory of Maudie will air on Thursday March 30 at 9pm on ITV1.
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