Eight months before her wedding to Joss in the late autumn of 2023, 31 year old architect Michaela Major was living with the condition fybromyalgia but was otherwise well. She spent her time working in a small practice near her Lake District home, in her spare time enjoying walking with her then-fiancé in the beautiful area in which they live. 

Michaela explains here what happened next. 

In the middle of March 2023 I went to the doctor’s repeatedly as I had been suffering from a sore throat. I was unable to speak, couldn’t swallow at all and was struggling to breathe. On three occasions the GP said that they felt that there was nothing out of the ordinary and recommended that I take paracetamol. I knew instinctively that something wasn’t right though. Joss was at work and no one else was around so eventually I took myself to A&E at the Lancaster Royal Infirmary (LRI). When I got there, it transpired that I had a temperature of 43 and swelling around my neck; I was also starting to shiver uncontrollably. I just felt an overall sense of doom and honestly felt like I was dying.  

The medics examined my throat using an endoscope and they confirmed that I had epiglottitis and sepsis. They said at that stage that had I waited even another hour to be treated it would likely have proved fatal.  A blood test revealed that my inflammatory markers were over 500 so I was in a very bad way. Whilst I was waiting for my blood results to come back my skin broke out in a mottled rash – like pin pricks all over my body.  

I was very shaken when I received that diagnosis. I felt let down by my GP for dismissing me so easily – I was very upset and angry. I know that my family felt the same way and they were also understandably really worried about me.  

I went on to spend a week in the LRI receiving medication intravenously. I was on dexamethasone, clindamycin and tramadol constantly, as well as betamethasone. I suffer from Fibromyalgia (a disorder that affects muscle and soft tissue which is typically characterised by chronic muscle pain, tenderness, fatigue and sleep disturbances.) So all of this was on top of my regular medication for that condition. Once I was discharged a week later I had a further month of antibiotics, steroids and painkillers. 

Post discharge, my family really helped my recovery; my now-husband Joss never left my side. But my recovery has taken a lot out of me – especially alongside the fibromyalgia. It has exacerbated the fatigue, brain fog and pain that I already regularly experienced. I am also less likely to see a GP now as I don’t trust their judgement.  

I have just about returned to full health a year on, although it has left me with lasting fatigue and some issues with my throat which flares up every now and then.  

Joss and I were married in November 2023. It was a very emotional day for us. We had a private laugh at the wedding that I had already tested the vows in sickness and in health a bit too literally. It was a relief to think that I had survived and that I was able to have a wedding at all. It could so easily all have been taken away from us. 

I want to share my story with Sepsis Research FEAT now to highlight the dangers of sepsis – how quickly it can come on and how easily it could be fatal. If I had one message to others it would be to trust your instincts and to make sure that you are aware of the key signs of sepsis. 

Launching during its tenth anniversary year in 2023, Sepsis Research FEAT has entered into a priority setting partnership (PSP) with the NIHR body the James Lind Alliance. In a once in a generation initiative, the sepsis PSP is collating feedback from sepsis patients, carers, clinicians and researchers to establish the key priorities for sepsis research in the future. From 950 questions posed in the autumn of 2023, the spring of 2024 will see a second PSP survey pose 54 questions relating to the genetics, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of sepsis patients. Key questions relating to why some people develop sepsis as the result of an infection and others don’t, or why some people recover well and others take longer are all part of that vitally important second survey. Final results and the ‘top 10’ for future sepsis research in this country and elsewhere will be published in the autumn of 2024, promising huge progress in the ongoing fight against sepsis.