Corey King was just 18 months old when he was diagnosed with sepsis at Edinburgh Sick Children’s Hospital in December 2021. With his mum, Aimee, and seven brothers and sisters willing him to pull through, he spent a terrifying two weeks in the paediatric intensive care unit. Now, looking back, with Corey thankfully fully recovered after a month in hospital, Aimee knows how vital it was that she followed her gut instinct – if she had delayed by even 24 hours the outcome might not have been so positive.

Corey’s mum Aimee explains “On Boxing Day Corey seemed unwell, he had a high temperature and was quiet but we weren’t too concerned. The next day we rang 111 as we couldn’t get his temperature down despite using Calpol, and he was grey. I had an awful feeling and took him immediately to A&E.”

Corey was quickly triaged at the hospital, which showed that both his heart rate and temperature were very high, but his blood sugar levels were low. A sore throat initially pointed to tonsillitis, however, blood tests highlighted his red and white blood cell counts and iron levels were very low. An infection was raging out of control. Corey was admitted and started on a course of antibiotics.

“He seemed to get sick extremely fast from then,” recalls Aimee. “We were told by the doctors at the hospital that he had sepsis which had developed from streptococcus pneumoniae and haemophilus influenzae infections. He was shivering uncontrollably, both his hands and feet took on a mottled look, and he wasn’t passing urine either.”

Just four days after Christmas, Corey was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit, his health rapidly deteriorating. Corey was put into an induced coma to help reduce the stress on his body, and he required three platelet transfusions as well as medication for his blood pressure. He battled with a high temperature for over two weeks.

Aimee recalls “His lymph nodes ballooned whilst he was in the PICU, and he looked triple his normal size. It’s something you read about and don’t expect it to happen to your loved one. Then the fear of the unknown took over: all of us were terrified Corey wouldn’t pull through.”

A bone marrow biopsy thankfully ruled out leukaemia, whilst a lumbar puncture confirmed that he did not have meningitis, however, the family are still awaiting the results of genetic testing.

Corey recovered and was thankfully discharged in January 2022 after 27 days in hospital. He was however fitted with a central line into his chest to continue blood tests and monitor the number of neutrophil white blood cells when he was home (neutrophils are a white blood cell that helps your immune system fight infections and heal injuries.)

Aimee hadn’t heard of Sepsis Research FEAT until she shared what had happened to Corey on her social media channel and was put in touch with the charity.

“I want other families to be aware of the symptoms and also how quickly sepsis can take over. If we had sat at home a day longer then our story probably wouldn’t be a positive one unfortunately. Familiarise yourself with the signs and symptoms. Think could it be sepsis? It is safer to get checked than wait!”

To hear more from Aimee on her Words of Sepsis podcast, click here.