Melvyn’s story, told by his daughter Karen
Losing a parent at any age is heart-breaking. Here Karen shares her moving account of her dad Melvyn Jackson’s painful battle with sepsis in the autumn of 2022.
Dad’s story began on the 29th October 2022.
He was returning from a caravanning holiday in Oxfordshire with me, my husband, our 16 year old daughter, 13 year old son and my mum. Dad began to complain of pain in his elbow, saying that he must have bumped it in the caravan. Flu-like symptoms then followed fairly swiftly. Mum took over the driving of their car and we continued home. Once he was home Dad went straight to bed. We suspected COVID to begin with and thought that he might also have cracked a bone in his elbow.
The next day – Sunday 30th October – my husband and I called in whilst walking the dogs to find Dad in a bad way. My husband and I are lifeguards and so we quickly checked his blood pressure, temperature and blood sugar levels. He was not very responsive so we called 111, to be told that there was a twenty-minute wait just to talk to somebody. My dad was 78 at the time and had previously had lymph node and prostate cancer – both in remission – in addition to left ventricular failure over 20 years previously. His breathing was also very erratic at this point, so I thought it best to phone an ambulance.
The ambulance arrived and his stats were not stable, so he was rushed to hospital. My mum went with him and my husband and I went on with our day. At around 5pm my mum managed to get a call out from the hospital to say Dad was not good and could I go. I took my daughter with me. Dad was in RESUS. It was at that point that we were told that dad had sepsis. We were understandably shocked and worried but my dad was too poorly to take in what had been said.
In the early hours of the next morning a doctor took us to one side and told us to prepare for the worst. They said that Dad had a 50/50 chance of survival, that his heart and kidney function were at 25% and that the next 24-48 hours would be crucial. We were also told no resuscitation would be given. With his arm now becoming red and swollen, Dad was moved to a ward. Plastic surgeons operated on his arm in the room whilst he was awake as he was too ill to be put under anaesthetic. They tried to release fluid from his arm but established that there was none to drain.
Over the next 22 days Dad was treated with two different antibiotics and put on end-of-life care by a cardio doctor but then taken off by plastic surgeons as they thought they could treat his arm. He was on oxygen and a nebuliser, unable to feed himself or even keep food down. We requested that he go back on end of life care. This time my daughter spoke to him and asked about his wishes and he said that he wanted to go home. Later that night another doctor took him off end of life care, saying that she was confident that she could treat two of the things that were wrong with him. More antibiotics and blood tests followed. He was unable to eat food as his throat was damaged so on the night of his 79th Birthday he was transferred to a ward for a feeding tube to be fitted. He was not the same again. On the day he died the doctor was trying to give him more time to recover as he had had been in generally good health before he was admitted. His arm was healing well on the day he died, however his heart was failing and his breathing was becoming strained and he had to be put back on oxygen. My daughter and I left at lunch time as the doctor felt he was improving. He died at 6.15pm with my mum and my son at his bedside.
Dad’s eyes had changed colour at least 10 days earlier and he began to have hallucinations. I know from the experience of my husband having had it that recovery from sepsis is difficult for a younger, healthy person. We feel so sad that he had to endure as much treatment as he did, in the end to no avail, and that he was not able to come home. We really miss his sense of humour.
Dad died on 22nd November 2022. My 16-year-old daughter particularly is still struggling with the fact that we were not able to bring him home to die.
Sepsis is fast-acting and potentially life-threatening. We wanted to share Dad’s story to make others aware of how serious it can be and encourage people to know the symptoms and act fast.