29 year old Ella is from the midlands and is a school teacher and mum to two small children.
In her spare time she enjoys running, reading and days out with her family, ‘We love visiting farms and swimming together’, she says
Like many mums, Ella probably felt quite confident as a second time mum with experience of breastfeeding. Many breastfeeding mums develop mastitis, few seriously. The long-term effects for Ella have been significant, however, as she explains here:
I have two significant connections with sepsis. The first was in June 2021, when my eldest son, Finley, was 10 months old. He became incredibly poorly very quickly. I collected him from nursery one day with a slight temperature and by bedtime, we were in A&E battling a whole host of symptoms. Finley was eventually diagnosed with cellulitis in his right arm, which developed into sepsis. This was an incredibly traumatic time for our family, as we were also managing covid restrictions at the time. Thankfully, Finley made a good recovery after several weeks in hospital, possibly due to his young age. I am incredibly grateful for the doctors and nurses who acted so quickly to save Finley. He is now 5 years old, nearly 6, and is thriving.
My second connection to sepsis is much more recent.
In March 2024, I gave birth to my second son, Beau. The birth was complex and I had an emergency C-section. Despite this, I recovered well and spent one wonderful week at home with my family. Exactly one week later, I woke up at midnight shaking so violently that I couldn’t move, I had to use ‘Hey Siri’ to call my partner – who had our baby in another room so I could get some sleep – and ask him to come and help me. He came in and took my temperature, which was 41 degrees. In the morning, we contacted the GP and went in. I had taken paracetamol and ibuprofen which had brought my symptoms (and temperature) down significantly. Whilst I was at the GP, they listened to my symptoms and gave me some amoxicillin to take home. I began to take the antibiotics, and over the next 24 hours, my symptoms became worse.
The following day, I went back to the GP, who examined me more thoroughly – they diagnosed me with mastitis. I was so poorly that I had been unable to tell that the pain was coming from my breast; my whole body was in agony and constantly shaking from the temperature. My Mum has a background of nursing and was very concerned that I was showing symptoms of sepsis, but when we spoke to the GP about it, they told us ‘it can’t be sepsis’ as my temperature wasn’t high enough at the time of the appointment – thanks to paracetamol which had slightly reduced it again.
That evening, I was so poorly that my partner decided to take me back to maternity triage at the Worcestershire Royal hospital. As I was only one week post-partum, he decided this would be better than A&E. I was seen a couple of hours after I arrived when they decided to admit me due to my raised temperature. During the process of being admitted, my heart rate began to raise significantly, however. Several midwives came and measured my heart rate, as they didn’t think the readings were accurate. My heart rate went up to 286bpm.
At this point, the hospital crash team was called and I have no memory of the events that followed. My partner tells me that the the crash team tried two manual methods of lowering my heart rate, both of which failed. I was unconscious and not responding to their efforts to bring me back around. They then administered a drug to forcibly bring my heart rate back down, at which point it plummeted to 20 bpm. They then spent several hours trying to stabilise me, and Jae had to make phone calls to my parents telling them how poorly I was, and that they should probably come to the hospital as soon as possible. My incredible fiancé stayed with me during all of this and was a brilliant support to everyone – truly believing he may be about to become a single father to two. Thankfully, and completely unexpectedly, after a week in hospital on an IV antibiotic, I made a complete recovery. I was told by doctors that the infection marker in my blood had been 568 [note: anything over 50 is deemed to be high].
Following this, In February 2025, I had a cardiac ablation, as the SVT (Supraventricular Tachycardia) episode I had experienced during sepsis had caused damage to my heart. I will now continue to take beta blockers for the rest of my life to manage this damage.
Jae still finds it tricky to talk about this time, he was sitting alone with a baby who was a week old, and a 3 year old at home, terrified that this would be his reality from now on. He was a fantastic rock to all of us during this time. My Mum is a very pragmatic person, with an extensive history in nursing, and even this shook her deeply and she found it hard to process how it had got so bad, so quickly.
Since then, I have been supported by some fantastic hospital staff who supported me through trauma de-briefs and explanations of everything that happened during this time. All I wish to do now is raise awareness of sepsis and how dangerous it is – and how to spot the signs. I feel so incredibly lucky to be where I am today. Last year, I told this story on TikTok, which went viral and gained 140,000 views, with so many people relating to my story and telling similar ones themselves. I will take any opportunity to raise money for vital sepsis research and raise awareness.
I also want to help raise awareness of sepsis as much as possible, but my main motivation is wanting to support research into sepsis and helping to make progress in the medical field as to why sepsis causes the damage that it does – for example, why it caused such significant damage to my heart that I have been left with a life-long condition. That is why Sepsis Research FEAT stands out to me so much and is the charity I wish to support.
As a primary school teacher, my main goal in life is to spread positivity and encourage others to do the same. I would love to be able to share how grateful I am to still have my life after my battle with sepsis, and how grateful I am to still have my precious son after his.
My message to others would be to go with your gut instinct when you know you are not well – seek advice and don’t hesitate to get a second or third opinion. If it is someone else who is poorly, be their voice for them when they are unable to advocate for themselves.
Charity Comment:
Mastitis is a relatively common condition, particularly among breastfeeding women, and is estimated to affect around 30%, most often within the first two to three weeks after birth. For the majority, it can be managed without the need for medical treatment.
For Ella and others like Hayley, however, mastitis proved far more serious. In both cases, the infection progressed to sepsis. As new mothers, understanding that the immune system can be compromised during this period—and that susceptibility to infection is therefore increased—can play an important role in recognising symptoms early and seeking prompt treatment.
Their experience highlights the importance of not dismissing symptoms, but instead remaining vigilant and acting quickly if concerns arise. It also underlines the value of seeking a second opinion if symptoms persist or worsen after initial medical assessment/discharge.
Sepsis Research FEAT is extremely grateful to Ella for sharing her story as part of Sepsis Research FEAT’s maternal sepsis awareness campaign 2026 and hopes to work with her in the future as she considers taking on a challenge event in support of this charity’s research and awareness work.