Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when the body's response to an infection damages its own tissues. When the infection-fighting processes turn on the body, they cause organs to function poorly and abnormally - this can may progress to septic shock.
The difficulty is that Sepsis can be hard to spot. There are lots of possible symptoms, and these can be vague. They can be like symptoms of other conditions, including flu or a chest infection.
One person who knows this better than most is Toby Grimberg. Back in February of 2018, Toby was given a 60 per cent chance of survival after he developed Sepsis.
Speaking to Herts Live, Toby's dad, Adam, said: “I got a phone call from the school about 20 minutes after they got back asking me to collect him and from then on it went quite rapidly downhill Toby was with me and his older brother Ben and he came downstairs and I gave him some calpol and a bite to eat and within 10 minutes he vomited all over the kitchen floor. At which point I phoned up Helen and said she had to come home, because he wasn’t well and it was worse than normal, there was something wrong."
By Saturday morning, Toby had developed a rash, and a very high temperature and because the GP surgery was shut, his mum called 111 to ask what to do. Helen said: "Because the doctor said it was just a cold and he seemed just poorly, that’s why he went to school, he didn’t seem that bad at that point. Then I thought, this seems a bit more than a cold.
"In the morning on Saturday I called 111 because I didn’t know what I should be doing. 111 were really helpful and within half an hour a doctor called back and they said we need an ambulance."
'We would know in 12 hours whether he would survive'
After a two hour wait the ambulance arrived, and that was the first point paramedics mentioned Sepsis. Toby had two of the biggest red flags for the condition, a rash and high temperature.
Toby was taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital and very quickly isolated into his own cubicle where nurses and doctors began pumping him with antibiotics. The pediatrician doctor came to see him and initially diagnosed Scarlet Fever, Toby was then taken to his own room where his condition continued to get more severe.
Helen was with Toby when the atmosphere in the hospital room quickly changed. Lots of people began entering the room and Helen was asked to leave.
She said: “The doctor said, 'look we are going to have to intubate him', he needed a lot of fluid. Lots of people started coming in the room and the mood in the room changed massively and I was asked to leave.
“There was a lot of anxiety. It felt very odd, then the doctor told me, your son is very ill, he has sepsis and he’s gone into septic shock."
By this point, Helen and Adam were told that Toby would have to be taken into London, where a specialist team in children's ICU could begin the next steps. He was put into the care of specialist children's doctors who would know what to do.
After four hours of doctors and nurses trying to stabilise Toby, he was put into a medically induced coma. His kidneys and liver had begun failing and he was put on an Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine - the highest amount of life support a person can receive.
There are only five centres in the UK that offer that level of treatment. A person only goes on ECMO when doctors know it's a last resort.
'We thought it was flu at worst, we didn’t think it was anything like this'
By now, the situation had become very serious and his mum had no idea just how bad things had got. Helen said: “I just couldn’t believe what had happened in such a short space of time.
"A nurse said it was touch and go, and we would know in 12 hours whether he would survive. We’d never been in that environment, we did not expect this from a cold.”
Toby was on life support for five days, before medical staff began slowly taking him off and he was eventually transferred back to Luton. He stayed there for a couple of nights until he was allowed home.
Sepsis kills around 50,000 people per year and thankfully Toby survived it, doctors said that due to Toby's age and the fact he plays a lot of sport, helped him through the worst stages. Toby still required daily intrevenous injections at the hospital every day to continue to fight what his body had been through.
Helen and Adam took it upon themselves to speak openly about Toby's journey through Sepsis, asking for more support and more awareness as to what it means and how it can be caught early. They also want to see more support for the months after the illness, as people's mental and physical health can still suffer.
Sepsis Research FEAT is the UK’s only charity dedicated to funding research into sepsis while also working to raise awareness of this life-threatening condition. The charity’s campaigns rely on supporters like Helen and Toby sharing their sepsis stories to show others the importance of learning the symptoms and seeking urgent medical attention.
Symptoms of sepsis can include:
- fever and/or chills
- confusion or disorientation
- difficulty breathing
- fast heart rate or low blood pressure (hypotension)
- extreme pain
- sweaty skin
Helen said: "I think we really need to promote them, I think by spreading the word about Sepsis we can stop people dying, it's too many and it can be avoided. Once parents are told this is Sepsis, all you can do is hope and pray."
Adam spoke of what they would have done, had they been more aware of the situation and if they had spotted the signs of Sepsis in Toby. The only option is ambulance care when Sepsis begins to set in.
He said: “If we were more knowledgeable, we would have got him to hospital 24 hours earlier but we didn’t know, we thought it was flu at worst, we didn’t think it was anything like this. A GP appointment won’t cut the mustard, it has to be an ambulance, it has to be straight to intensive care, and they can hopefully cut all of this off without the onset of organ failure which is horrific to watch.”
Colin Graham, Chief Operating Officer at Sepsis Research FEAT, said: "A massive thank you to Toby’s family for sharing their story to support our charity’s work. 5 people in the UK die every hour from sepsis. Despite the shocking figures, many people are still unaware of how serious it is.
"If more people have a better understanding of the condition and the signs to look out for then this could lead to more lives being saved. If, like Toby’s family, you have personal experience of sepsis, please consider sharing your story to help others learn more about it.
“Sepsis is an indiscriminate, deadly condition that can kill a healthy person in a matter of hours. The biological processes that cause sepsis are not understood, and this is why we need more research.
"In addition to our awareness raising work, our charity relies on legacies and donations to help us fund research into improved treatments that could save more lives. We would be grateful for any support you could give Sepsis Research FEAT to help in the fight against sepsis.”
Donations to Sepsis Research FEAT can be made on their website.
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