Stephen was shocked when his mum, Sue, died of sepsis at 63. Now Stephen is holding ‘MatchForMum’ to raise awareness.
Stephen Epathite was “horrified and shocked” when he received the formal diagnosis, by telephone, that his mum, Sue Martin, had died of sepsis. Sue, who had lived in south-west London and Surrey, had been battling a rare form of bone marrow leukaemia since October 2019 and had undergone chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, before she died just before Christmas in 2020.
“Things seemed to be going really well,” said Stephen. “Early stages of chemotherapy were going well in 2019. In 2020, after the stem cell transplant in July the problems began.”
Sue came home from St George’s Hospital in Tooting after her stem cell transplant. But very quickly started to deteriorate, so much so, that she was taken back into hospital. In September 2020, she was diagnosed with global brain damage and given a few days to live.
Two months later, Sue was slowly recovering, “talking, responding, following commands and showing very small signs of improvement,” said Stephen.
Then Sue caught COVID in the hospital in the November, and, again, she was given less than a week to live.
“Despite numerous infections, continual positive COVID tests, end-of-life predictions and – finally – a negative COVID test, she made it until 20 December. My mum, my strong, brave, courageous, beautiful and Superwoman mum fought day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute and second after second,” said Stephen.
But it was only after Sue had died that Stephen, and his brother, Richard, found out sepsis had been the cause of death; “caused by an ungradable bed ulcer,” said Stephen.
Stephen found Sepsis Research FEAT on Google after his mum’s funeral in March this year and says the charity has helped him. Since contacting Sepsis Research FEAT, he has decided to hold a charity football match to raise awareness of sepsis.
“I just want to raise sepsis awareness so that sepsis can be diagnosed and treated quickly and so that other people don’t go through what my mum did.”
“She went through all of this with a beautiful smile on her face. She never complained, she never got upset, she wasn’t scared, she didn’t cry. She was just so brave and I don’t know how she did that.”
In honour of his mum, and the courage she showed, Stephen and Richard are holding a charity football match called ‘MatchForMum’ to mark her birthday in July.
“The game will be 11 v 11. A team picked and managed by me versus a team picked and managed by my brother. The game will be for my mum and to raise awareness of sepsis. If anyone would like to be involved on the day of my match in any way or if you would like to donate any money to Sepsis Research FEAT then please get in touch. Anyone will be more than welcome to come along on the day to watch the match, and support and celebrate my mum.”
Stephen has been a first-team coach at Banstead Athletic Football Club (a semi-pro team) since 2019. His charity football match, ‘MatchForMum’, is in aid of Sepsis Research FEAT and will be held 1 August this year at nearby Molesey Football Club.
A Just Giving page has been set up by Stephen and has already raised over £1,100. To donate, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stephen-epathite
If you would like to be involved in the match then please get in touch with Stephen by emailing [email protected]