Krupa Thakrar’s father Batuk Sodha was a fit and healthy 81 year old prior to the sudden onset of sepsis as a result of food poisoning in late 2022. Despite making a 4,300 mile dash his bedside, his family arrived too late.

The shock of losing a man beloved to his friends, family and wider community so suddenly is still something that they are struggling to come to terms with nearly a year on. In an interview earlier this summer, Krupa very kindly agreed to talk about what happened in the hope of raising awareness of sepsis. She also recorded some of her answers in Gujarati in the hope of spreading better awareness, particularly amongst older people within the community.

Interviewer: We were so sorry to hear about the loss of your father Krupa. Thank you so much for agreeing to talk to us to help raise awareness of sepsis.

Can you start by telling me about your mum and dad’s annual trips back to India each winter?

Krupa: They really enjoyed going back to India. It was their happy place. They had their own place which they stayed at every year. And they had their friends who are from the UK who stay in the same place as well. They loved getting away from the British winter weather and being somewhere that was warmer, where they could be free to get out and about and eat all their favourite food. They were within walking distance of the temple. So, second to being with us, it really was their happy place – they loved being there.

Interviewer: What was your father’s health like when they made this particular trip?

Krupa:There was really nothing to worry about, nothing out of the ordinary. He was healthy for an 81 year old man. It was  just five days before he passed away that he celebrated his 81st birthday with friends, with a lot of joy and celebration.

And he was also someone who was really careful about things that he ate. He made sure he got his steps in every day. He genuinely was a really healthy man. He did have asthma for most of his life and he had been taking blood pressure tablets for the last few years but apart from that there was really nothing to worry about with his health. It was as good as ever and he was well and fit and able.

Interviewer: What did your father do when he started to feel ill?

Krupa: To be be honest, nothing much really. He’d started being sick and he just thought that it was probably something that he’d eaten, something that didn’t agree with him. So he didn’t really do anything about it. He just thought ‘I’ll get better,’ and brushed it aside. He told my mum there was nothing to worry about and rested a bit. Apart from that he didn’t do anything.

Interviewer: How worried were you at this stage?

Krupa: Not really very worried at all because we’d spoken to him. And he’d said that he was sick and that it was something that he’d eaten that didn’t agree with him. And then I’d spoken to him the next day and he said that he was feeling fine that day. So I wasn’t actually worried at all.

Interviewer: How quickly did your father’s condition deteriorate?

Krupa: When he first fell sick it was a Monday and then on the Tuesday and Wednesday I’d spoken to him on the phone and he said that he was absolutely fine. He’d been carrying on with his daily errands as normal – there was nothing obviously wrong with him. And then it was the Wednesday night that he started to feel more sick and had diarrhoea and that kind of thing. My parents didn’t tell us because they didn’t want to worry us. Then the whole of Thursday he was being sick and had  diarrhoea, which carried on through the night and into the morning of Friday. My mum thought that he was looking a bit weak and, having been sick and having the runs he’d lost a lot of fluid, so she decided to call a doctor. That’s when they told us that he was poorly.

I spoke to him at that point and he seemed okay and then on Friday afternoon we got a call to say that he was critical on a ventilator and that we needed to get there ASAP. So my brother and I got on the first flight we could. But before we got there on Saturday he passed away.

So Monday it was his birthday. He was sick Tuesday. Wednesday he seemed fine. By Saturday, gone.

Interviewer:What were you thinking when you packed your bags to be with him?

Krupa: When I packed my bags, I don’t think I actually believed that it was anything very serious. I know we’d been told that he was on a ventilator and he’s critical, so, yes, I did have that in my mind. But in all honesty, I thought that it was a stomach bug or something and that he was going to be fine and that we’d actually get some days with him in India. I didn’t for the life of me believe that I was about to lose my dad.

So I think whilst I knew it on one side, on another side I just thought ‘I’ve just spoken to him and he’s fine and he celebrated his birthday…’ I just didn’t believe that this was what was going to happen.

Interviewer: In hindsight what do you wish your father had done?

Krupa: I wish that he’d gone to the doctor when he first felt sick or when he started to get worse on the Thursday. If he’d gone to the doctor then…Thursday was the day that I didn’t call and I didn’t speak to him. So I wish I had and I wish I’d known that it had got worse and told him to go to the doctor. I wish he hadn’t just brushed things under the carpet saying ‘Yeah, everything’s fine, it’ll be fine.’ and not telling us. My parents were thinking that they didn’t want to worry us. I just wish he had told us how he was feeling. And rather than thinking of us just to put themselves first for once and just say…Because I’m sure he was feeling things that he wasn’t saying about the way he was being affected by sepsis, and the symptoms. But he didn’t say anything. So I wish he had just spoken out and I wish he’d got the help he needed sooner.

Interviewer: What do you want people to know about Sepsis?

Krupa: I want people to know that they need to find out more about sepsis, to know that it’s such a fast and silent killer. That it can happen from something as small as a simple cut. That any kind of infection can cause sepsis, and that it can happen to anyone, children or elders. And just be aware of what the symptoms are, what to look out for. So that we can then go to medical professionals and ask ourselves ‘Could this be sepsis?’ Because the NHS is overworked, so people being aware is really important. When we talked to people about this and how my dad passed away, so many didn’t know what sepsis was. And for something that can take you so fast, I just want people to know about it, to know about the symptoms.

Interviewer: What is your message to the Gujarati community?

Krupa: In my community similarly, it’s just making them aware that there is such an illness and such a condition. Because when we spoke to people about my dad in my community, the number of elders that knew about it was close to zero. People didn’t know. And that’s so shocking, thinking of how fast it can take you if you’ve got an infection. So I want to make people aware. And I want people to know that if you’re not feeling right, they should get seen or speak to those around them. Don’t just brush things under the carpet. Don’t just say ‘No,no,no, I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s probably nothing.’ Get it seen to. Because my dad’s was due to gastritis – it was simple. It could have been treated. But he didn’t get seen and it took him away from us.

Interviewer: What have you learned from what your family has been through?

Krupa: Again, on a similar note, I’ve learnt that people don’t know what sepsis is. That it’s something that can be fatal. Just realising that people don’t know about something that is potentially so fatal has been shocking for us. So that’s the message I want to get out there: for people to make themselves aware of what sepsis is, how it presents and what to do.

For us another learning has been just to check in on our parents more and encourage them to tell us if they’re not feeling right, no matter how small it seems. That’s it really – just don’t brush things under the carpet when it comes to health.