My one woman crusade, by sepsis survivor
A COURAGEOUS Scot has launched a drive to raise awareness of sepsis after the Scottish Government rejected calls for a national campaign.
Quadruple amputee Corinne Hutton was a super-fit businesswoman before falling ill with the deadly condition four years ago.
Surgeons were forced to amputate both her hands and her legs below the knee.
On Monday, the Government rejected calls to consider a national awareness campaign on sepsis, despite the condition killing around 3,500 Scots a year.
But within hours of the decision Miss Hutton, 47, launched a social media campaign calling on other
‘Recognise the symptoms’
sepsis survivors to share their stories and raise awareness.
The mother of one, who is founder of the Scottish amputee support charity Finding Your Feet, developed sepsis after suffering pneumonia.
She said: ‘I was really disappointed to find that the Scottish Government won’t be launching a campaign to help raise awareness of sepsis. Four years ago I had a bad cough that lasted for two weeks so I took myself to the doctor and got some antibiotics.
‘The very next day I was dying in hospital with less than a 5 per cent chance of survival.
‘That’s sepsis. That’s how frightening sepsis can be. It’s fast. I was unlucky enough to lose my hands and my legs as a result of the sepsis but I was lucky I didn’t die. OK, so we don’t need the Scottish Government to do a campaign, let’s do this ourselves. Let’s raise awareness ourselves.’
Within 24 hours of its launch, a video appeal on her charity’s Facebook page had been shared more than 14,400 times.
Last night, Miss Hutton said: ‘I know there are other health issues out there but I don’ t think we can ever talk too much about sepsis, it can kill instantly. We want people to be able to recognise the symptoms early on.
‘We are encouraging people to share stories about sepsis.’
The Scottish parliament’s public petitions committee previously said a national awareness campaign was ‘appropriate’ and asked the Government to take this forward. But ministers said it was not ‘necessary at this time’.
Instead, the Government said its officials would meet sepsis charity FEAT (the Fiona Elizabeth Agnew Trust) and explore other ways to raise awareness. But Craig Stobo, who started FEAT after his wife Dr Agnew died five years ago, called the decision not to run a national awareness campaign ‘a public health scandal’.
Sepsis must be spotted and treated quickly, usually with antibiotics, before it spreads. Yesterday, a Government spokesman said: ‘The Scottish Government is committed to making the public more aware of the dangers of sepsis and the Health Secretary will meet with the Fiona Elizabeth Agnew Trust in the near future to discuss its calls for a national campaign and how we can better provide people with a deeper knowledge of the signs and symptoms of sepsis.
‘This will be to ensure that any future plans build on the ongoing good work, such as the Sock it to Sepsis campaign and participation in World Sepsis Day, so we can promote public awareness, prevention and reduction of sepsis.’