Instead of starting uni, I ended up fighting for my life
A TEENAGER was left fighting for her life after being struck down by deadly sepsis on the day she was due to start university in Manchester.
The deadly illness took over Olivia Young’s entire body. The 19-year-old was in hospital for nearly two weeks. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s immune system goes into overdrive as it fights infection.
On the day Olivia was due to move to the city to begin a chemistry degree at the University of Manchester, she woke up feeling freezing cold, despite her boyfriend telling her she was burning up.
The teenager said she woke to a headache so severe, she was left in agonising pain each time she moved. She then began fainting, vomiting and experiencing stomach pains.
Doctors originally suspected Olivia had suffered a reaction to a meningitis vaccine. But when her mother described her symptoms over the phone via the 111, an ambulance was immediately dispatched to rush Olivia to hospital. Medics soon found she had contracted sepsis. The illness is triggered by an infection in any part of the body and, without swift treatment, can lead to multiple organ failure.
“If I had gone to university that day, I don’t think I would have been here,” said Olivia, who lives in Fallowfield. “When I was in hospital, I couldn’t move by myself due to the agonising pain that was all over my body.”
Doctors later found that an untreated abscess in Olivia’s kidney had become infected. That led to her developing sepsis.
Olivia spent nearly two weeks in hospital before she was allowed home in Hull, where she began studying towards her chemistry degree.
Despite being six weeks behind her coursemates in Manchester, she passed her first year. Olivia added: “It didn’t feel like a normal 24-hour infection. I would say to anyone - even if you are unsure - go and get yourself checked out.”