Nicole's Story

I was 22 when I had sepsis.I suffered from reoccurring UTIs that led to kidney infections from 2015 to 2017.

They got increasingly worse in 2016. I kept being prescribed the same antibiotics by my previous GP, which I explained that they are not helping or fixing the problem.I went for many scans and tests, all results came back normal yet,I was still suffering. One morning in early March 2017 I felt like I had a flu, I was shivering ,no energy, could barely walk, eat, drink, or urinate all I could do was sleep.My sister rang another GP to do a house call for a second opinion.

When he arrived, he suggested I get to the hospital immediately. I went to Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda because the hospital in Dundalk only deals with minor injuries. As soon as I got to A&E the triage took me immediately, they said I was the sickest person in the hospital if I left it till morning or any longer, I would have died. I remember holding onto a big machine I could barely stand. I then got a bed in a corridor. After that I was wheelchaired to the Guiney room where I spent a week on a drip .

I slept for the first day, the second day they did a scan on me I wasn't very aware of my surroundings until 3 days later the doctors told me I had sepsis in my left kidney if I didn't improve that day, I would have gone for a blood transfusion then a transplant, they said a rare antibiotic from America saved my life that I am lucky to be alive. I waited the rest of the week to get my fluctuating temperature down until I could go home

I did not suffer with any extreme physical problems after recovery, thankfully just some brain fog, weakness,and weight loss.

I sometimes look back with survivors' guilt, healing to this day mentally from the whole situation but at the same time a huge amount of gratitude that I lived to tell the tale.