I thought it was just a cough... nurse's anguish after sepsis robs her of limbs
A FORMER nurse who lost three limbs after a cough devel- oped into sepsis is vowing to walk again.
Jayne Carpenter, 51, lost both legs and an arm when her immune system went on the attack following the infection.
She spoke out to raise awareness of the condition – marked today by World Sepsis Day – and how the condition “turned her world upside down”.
Jayne said: “It’s been devastating. Getting sepsis is something you never predict will happen to you. I haven’t let it defeat me but I do get my dark moments.” Her ordeal began when she developed a bad cough and woke up feeling short of breath.
She described her symptoms to her local GP who advised her to go to A&E but did not suspect she had the early stages of deadly sepsis.
Jayne said: “As a nurse, I thought it was something fairly trivial so didn’t want to make a fuss.”
But she quickly began to deteriorate and fell into a coma, spending nine weeks fighting for life. Her husband Robert, 55, was told his wife would die unless she had a triple amputation. In all, she lost four fingers on her right hand, her left arm below the elbow and both legs.
Jayne, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, said the three years since have been extremely challenging. She even told her husband if he wanted to he could leave her.
She said: “I’ve really struggled. There were three points this year where I got close to ending my own life, it’s been horrendous. It’s like a grieving process – I’ve grieved for the life I once had and the ability to do so many of the small things you take for granted such as being able to go for a swim.
“I can’t put my own jewellery on, I rely on my husband to put my shoes on...it takes away my femininity.
“I try and do as much as I can but have to ask Robert to do lots of things. He’s been a real rock.”
Since losing her limbs, Jayne has changed careers and now works part-time as a paralegal medical practitioner. She said:
“We try to live life as normally as possible but it is not always the same as before. I divide my life into two parts; before and after I got sepsis. I lost half my life.”
Jayne is hoping to raise £265,000 via the GoFundMe website for ossiointergration surgery, which will see prosthetics fitted on each leg.
She said: “It will completely and utterly change my life. It’ll give my freedom and independence back.
“My life was stripped away – I just need to regain some of the normality that sepsis took away from me.”
● You can donate at gofundme.com/f/jclifewithnolimits