Adam lost his wife Emma to sepsis in 2020 – a week before her 40th birthday. He now shares her story in an attempt to raise awareness of sepsis.
I’m Adam and in 2020 I lost my wife and mother of our two sons to sepsis.
My wife was a healthy 39-year-old who, a little over a week before her 40th birthday, contracted flu-like symptoms and a fever. Presuming she had stomach flu, Emma did what most of us would and assumed it would pass. She took some extra bed rest, but continued to get up and down to spend time with our two sons George (now aged 9) and Roscoe (3).
After five days of treatment at home, things weren’t getting any better. After the fifth day, she took a turn for the worse overnight. We called the doctor, described her symptoms and she was rushed to A&E at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on the morning of 17th March 2020.
The sepsis diagnosis came quickly and Emma was treated with steroids and antibiotics. But as the day progressed, her condition deteriorated rapidly. She passed away in the afternoon – a week before the UK went into its first national lockdown and just before her 40th birthday. Emma will be forever loved and missed.
A keen defender of the marginalised and promoter of equality and social
justice, Emma was unfalteringly kind, intelligent, and selfless. She never put her own priorities above that of others and continually thought about how she could improve people’s lives. She was a Modern Studies and History teacher at Preston Lodge High School, but before this had spent years working for the young people’s charity Caledonia Youth as well as Edinburgh’s Kaimes School, where she helped youngsters with autistic spectrum disorder.
We had little knowledge of sepsis or just how quickly it can take a life. I had not heard about Sepsis Research FEAT before Emma’s diagnosis. I am keen to help them by raising awareness; in May this year I held an event featuring local musicians at the Biscuit Factory in Edinburgh to honour Emma and to raise money for the charity.
My hope is by fundraising and sharing Emma’s story more people become aware of the sepsis, how hard it is to spot and just how astonishingly quickly it can take a life.