WHEN LIGHTNING STRUCK TWICE

National Hunt jockey Mick Fitz gerald is famous for winning the 1996 Gr and National aboard Rough Quest.

Less well known is the f act that the Irishman and TV r acing presenter is a two-times survivor of sepsis.

The first incident oc curred when he was just six years old when a cut to his hand morphed int o a sore leg. Fortunately, his par ents realised that something was seriously amis s and they rushed him t o hospital, where surgeons operated on the off ending leg. He s till sports the scar.

Thirty-two years later and the lethal blood poisoning s truck again during Mick’s recovery from extensive spinal sur gery that followed a serious f all from L’ami during the 2008 Gr and National. “I thought I w as going t o die,”

Mick related to the Sepsis T rust.

“I was going to doctors again and again. I was fatigued; I had no energy and I k ept getting f evers.

The first couple of times the doct or suggested that it was possibly a bit of depression post-retirement from race riding… but I kne w that something wasn’t right.

“Luckily for me, the next time I returned I saw a diff erent doctor.

She sent off some bloods f or testing. In her words, my bloods were ‘off the charts’. I was sent t o Oxford Hospital and referred to a specialis t. After many tests they eventually diagnosed me with sepsis. I w as peg fed for five months, and only pulled through thanks t o the f act that I had spent my life being so fit.

“The most important les son I’ve learnt from both experiences is never be afraid to just ask, ‘ could it be sepsis’? You know your own body better than anyone else, so you must feel able t o challenge the medical professionals if you feel worse than you’ve ever felt before.”