A specialist in his field of veterinary medicine, a lover of the arts and the outdoors, and a raconteur, Martin Weaver was just 50 years old when he lost his life very suddenly to sepsis on 28th September 2012.
His widow Jane talked to Sepsis Research FEAT recently about what happened and about the remarkable man that her late husband was.
Martin was a Senior Lecturer in Equine Surgery at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh1, specialising in imaging and orthopaedics. Prior to that he had worked and trained in Germany, Dublin, Cambridge and London. He was also a man of many interests outside work.
Martin had been diagnosed with stage 4 bladder cancer in December 2010 and was making good progress, under the care of an oncologist at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. He had visited the Western on 26th September in connection with a planned procedure but had subsequently started to feel unwell. Jane thought probably due to his cancer diagnosis. On the morning of 28th September, however, he became particularly poorly and was having problems with his catheter. Jane went to the Western to try and pick up a replacement prior to the weekend. She returned home to find that Martin’s condition had deteriorated markedly and she therefore immediately decided to phone for an ambulance.
It appears that Martin’s cancer diagnosis confused the situation in terms of a decision as to which hospital he should be taken to. It was initially suggested that he should be taken to the Western but he then collapsed and it was at that point – around 4pm on 28th September – that he was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He was initially treated in A&E with antibiotics and fluids, then transferred to a ward. Tragically, Martin died just four hours later, at 8.20 pm that evening.
Jane says that she doesn’t know whether Martin was actually informed that he had sepsis, but that she wasn’t. She felt that he had a sense of the urgency required though. ‘At one point whilst he was being treated, Martin said to me that they needed to work faster. As a vet I think he must have known what was happening to him,’ she says. The first that Jane knew of his diagnosis was after Martin’s death when urinary sepsis was listed on his death certificate.
She says that she would like Martin to be remembered as the man he was. In addition to his clinical work as a vet, he taught on the university’s veterinary degree course as well as on the residency programme for junior vets.
Outside of work he was outdoorsy and loved hill-walking in his beloved Scotland and on the continent, and latterly sea kayaking. He sang in a choir and was a supporter of the arts, particularly opera and theatre. He was also a keen gardener.
Jane says that Martin was also a wonderful storyteller. He never tired of recounting what became known as the “Gorilla story”. When he was working at University College Dublin, Martin had to treat a gorilla in Dublin Zoo. The first job was to sedate the animal by firing drugs from a distance using an anaesthetic dart rifle. Whilst aiming through the bars of the cage, however, the gorilla suddenly shot across the enclosure and pulled the rifle out of Martin’s hands. After an anxious pause, the gorilla then bent the rifle in two and handed it back to a more than slightly grateful Martin. Jane says that Martin told the story well and always in a very self-deprecating way.
She also describes the way that Martin bore his cancer diagnosis – ‘with incredible bravery, good humour and without blame. I feel that he deserved a better death than the one he had,’ she says.
Jane has followed the work of Sepsis Research FEAT over the ten years since Martin’s death and the charity’s foundation. She describes seeing the research that is taking place as a result of the charity’s work as ‘re-assuring in its promise of improving the chances of recovery in sepsis patients.’
Jane finishes by saying, ‘I wanted to share his story in memory of Martin but also to highlight how quickly sepsis can take hold. Especially if there are other underlying health problems. My message to others would simply be this: know the symptoms of sepsis. If in doubt, pose the question. Be pushy!’
In Memory of Martin Weaver, 29th July 1962 – 28th September 2012