‘My mum was the life and soul of everything – she was always dancing, she was our dancing queen. She loved people and she made such a big impact on everyone who knew her.’
Hi, I’m Steph and I’m 20 years old. This Mother’s Day 2026 was the first year without my mum, Claire. We lost her very suddenly to sepsis in June last year at the age of just 47, which was a huge shock. My mum had two children – me and my sister Carmen, who was born asleep.
Mum was a senior staff nurse at Forth Valley Royal Hospital. She spent her whole career caring for other people and she knew a lot about sepsis which makes losing her to it even harder to understand.
She was the life and soul of everything – she loved dancing, loved people and she made such a big impact on everyone who knew her. That’s why this April over 30 of us will be taking part in the Glasgow Kiltwalk in her memory. The money we raise will help Sepsis Research FEAT fund more research to unlock faster diagnostics and better treatment treatments to save more lives in the future.
On Monday 23rd June 2025 my mum didn’t go to work as usual at NHS Forth Valley Royal Hospital (FVRH), ward A31, Infectious Diseases. She was sick and generally feeling unwell, which we thought was just food poisoning as we had been at a BBQ the previous Saturday. I was working from home that day and noticed that my mum was in severe pain, so I phoned the doctor’s. They advised that I should phone 999, who in turn said that they couldn’t help and that I should phone the doctor… So I decided to take my mum to A&E at her own hospital – FVRH.
When we got there she was in a lot of pain and went straight to triage in A&E within 15 minutes. Within an hour she deteriorated very quickly though and her skin was turning purple. She was also delirious by this point. She was taken for a scan which could not identify the cause. It was decided that she should be put into an induced coma in ICU and started on dialysis. She then went into multi organ failure – the cause of which was unknown at the time, but we later found out was due to sepsis. After my mum passed, we also found out that she had no spleen, which explained why she was unable to recover.
She was never conscious enough to be informed of her diagnosis of sepsis. Because they were unsure of the cause at the beginning, the doctors explained to us that my mum was very ill and that she might not survive. To hear this made me feel physically sick. It is not what you expect when you thought your mum was just unwell. From taking my mum to hospital to being told this in the space of just three hours was something we struggled to comprehend. Especially as my mum was the fittest person we knew.
She spent a week in ICU on the ventilated coma receiving dialysis and was apparently on triple the amount of medication most patients receive.
When she died we were given brochures about support services and keepsakes from the ICU team. Our workplaces have also been very supportive. Sepsis Research FEAT was one of the first charities we heard about due to the link between the charity and FVRH (Dr Fiona Agnew, in whose memory Sepsis Research FEAT was founded, was a Falkirk GP and was herself treated for sepsis at FVRH). We have been able to share more information with others about sepsis via the charity. Sepsis is such a serious condition and we want people to understand the signs and act fast to get help if they spot any of them.
Sepsis can happen to everyone, no matter your age or health. It is a silent killer. I want to be able to share my mum’s story to help people understand that. Acting tough or brave and hiding your health could be fatal.
if you can, please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the signs of sepsis – recognising them early could genuinely save a life.
Charity comment:
Claire McCormack was just 47 years old when she died of sepsis. She was fit and healthy and, as a senior staff nurse in infectious diseases, she could not have been better informed. Steph’s quick action on her mum‘s behalf also made sure that she was in the right place to receive treatment. It was tragically all ultimately in vain though – the rapidity of the deterioration in Claire‘s condition must have been a huge shock to Steph and her stepfather of 12 years, Sandy.
Their message to others is very simple – that people need to inform themselves about the signs and symptoms of sepsis and speak up on their own behalf or that of others to get help quickly if they see anything unusual or a rapid deterioration in someone’s condition.
The fundraising that Steph and other members of Claire’s friends and family are undertaking in April 2026 is the second fundraising event in her memory. Huge numbers of people have turned out to pay their respects to someone they knew and loved, raising funds for this charity’s sepsis research and awareness work as they do so. Fundraising in memory of a friend or loved one is powerful and can be therapeutic. It’s a way of doing something that feels positive and powerful when loss to sepsis can be so shocking and painful.
If you would like to take part and improve outcomes for others in future, check out the 850+ events available to supporters of Sepsis Research FEAT via the link here.
And to support Steph and Team Turbinators in their April 2026 Kiltwalk challenge click here.
Sepsis Research FEAT is so grateful to Steph and all those who knew and loved Claire for all they have done to support this charity and its work since 2025 – we wish them all the very best of luck.