Kim Smith from Milton Keynes lives life with a smile on her face despite the far-reaching consequences of having her hands and legs amputated due to sepsis at the age of just 56. Her journey has not been an easy one. Over the last five years though she has made it her mission to help others understand this life-threatening condition. Having originally shared her story with Sepsis Research FEAT back in early 2020, three years on Kim has written a series of blogs talking more about her experience and about her life post-sepsis. Read part one now.

It all started when I became unwell with back pain whilst on holiday in Alicante in Spain with my husband, Steve, in November 2017. I went to a local hospital where I was given an X-ray and was told I hadn’t broken anything, but was then given no medication or further checks.

The following day my condition had worsened so I went to a doctor who diagnosed a urine infection and prescribed antibiotics. The local chemist didn’t have them in stock and asked me to go back the following day by which time my condition had got even worse.

I had cold hands and feet, severe breathlessness and was shivering. I had a temperature but was so cold. I knew I was very ill and it was more than just a kidney infection – I felt like I was dying. It turned out that my body was going into septic shock.

I woke at about 4am telling my husband I needed to go to hospital. Luckily, I spoke enough Spanish to let staff know that I felt very ill. I thought I was going die.

They admitted me immediately and took my clothes and jewellery and gave them to my husband, telling him ‘She won’t need these, she could die’. I was taken to intensive care, had a tracheotomy, was put into an induced coma on life support, and had kidney dialysis because my kidneys had failed.

Steve phoned our daughters Gemma and Becki and my mum Jean, who got on the next available flight from Gatwick to Alicante.

I gather that despite my condition, my travel insurance company were unhelpful when my daughter tried to arrange an air ambulance to get me home to the UK telling her, “We can’t foresee why she can’t travel home by commercial airline”.

I was in a coma in Spain for six weeks. After repeated interventions by my daughter the travel insurer eventually agreed to send an air ambulance. The doctor who arrived from Germany as part of the air ambulance team told my husband “If I don’t move her now, she will be dead in two days”.