GRADUATE WARNS ABOUT THE DANGERS OF SEPSIS WHICH CLAIMED THE LIFE OF HIS MUM

Joseph Briggs has spoken out about the dangers of sepsis after suddenly losing his mum Paula at the young age of 56.

The 21-year-old who lives in Bath, lost his mum in April last year during the first lockdown. At first, it was thought she had Covid19 however it turned out she had sepsis and she died days later at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

Joseph said: “I want to raise awareness in memory of my mum. Losing her was devastating for me as we were very close. After months of trying to readjust to life without her, I feel ready to make a difference by sharing her story and helping others.”

Paula was a carer in a home in Malmesbury, Wiltshire at the time of her death. She’d worked as a carer for more than 20 years.

“While we were all told to stay home and stay safe, for many working on the front line like my mum, the fear of Covid19 was their daily reality,” Joseph said.

“Obsessed by the risks, many were too frightened to go to their GP when feeling unwell or they felt their concerns were unimportant in a time of the global pandemic. This was the story with my mum. She was so concerned about the residents and for her own health she would often walk home after a 12-hour shift out of fear of contaminating her car with her uniform.”

At the beginning of April last year, Paula became unwell complaining of headaches and feeling run down. Her son called her an ambulance and she went to the hospital and was told she had Covid19 and to go home and rest. At home, her condition worsened until she was unable to look after herself, she couldn’t get out of bed, her speech was slurred and her three sons couldn’t make sense of what she was saying. This all happened in a matter of days.

“I was increasingly worried about my mum,” Joseph, who lives with his girlfriend Alice in Bath, said. “Finally she was taken to hospital again and within a week she had passed away. Until that time I had no real idea what sepsis was and that week was the worst of my life.”

Joseph now wants to share the story of his mum and highlight the risks of sepsis.

“With sepsis killing more people than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined, the need for attention is paramount to educate and stop preventable deaths. According to the UK Sepsis Trust, the condition is often not detected early enough due to lack of awareness and the similarities that sepsis has with other illnesses and diseases. The trust defines sepsis as a form of blood poisoning caused by an infection, which our immune system is built to fight. But for reasons that are not yet understood, the immune system fights its own organs and tissues. 

“This was the case for my mum, and when she died my emotions were all over the place. I was full of anger, confusion and worry. That last car journey to the hospital to say goodbye felt like a lifetime.”

Joseph has, in Paula’s memory, raised to date more than £500 for UK Sepsis Trust and plans to do more. He wants to let people know what the most common signs of sepsis are so they can act quickly:

• slurred speech
• extreme shivering or muscle pain
• passing no urine
• severe breathlessness.

In children, symptoms can range from:

• breathing very fast.
• having a rash that does not fade when pressed.
• feeling abnormally cold to the touch.
• has a fit or convulsion 
• is very lethargic or difficult to wake 

In a child under 5, symptoms can be:

• is not feeding 
• is vomiting repeatedly
• has not passed urine for 12 hours  

Joseph said: “The importance of knowing this life-saving information can be the difference between life and death. Sepsis is a silent killer as it’s difficult to detect and treat and there is no cure for sepsis. The only cure currently is awareness and the knowledge to detect the warning signs early in order to receive vital medicine.”

For more information about sepsis please visit https://sepsistrust.org/about/about-sepsis/