Just call me the bionic MP, says brave Tory as he reveals he’s lost ALL his limbs to sepsis
CRAIG Mackinlay wants to be called the ‘bionic MP’ after having his limbs amputated following a terrifying battle with sepsis.
The Conservative politician – who has been away from Parliament since September – has revealed that he was given a 5 per cent chance of survival and placed in an induced coma for 16 days.
He suffered multiple-organ failure after being rushed to hospital as the disease took hold.
But Mr Mackinlay, 57, says he is now ready to get back to work.
In December, the South Thanet MP said he was ‘extremely lucky’ to be alive after undergoing ‘extreme surgery’.
But last night he detailed the harrowing episode in full, including waking up in London’s St Thomas’ Hospital to find his hands had turned black.
His condition escalated rapidly: after feeling mildly unwell one night in late September, he was sick during the night and by morning his wife could not feel a pulse.
Shocking images show the MP looking down at his affected limbs before they were removed.
‘I could see black arms and my wife was explaining what happened,’ Mr Mackinlay told GB News. ‘I think I was still on the joys of fentanyl and all the rest of it by then, so I was in and out of lucidity. But I could see these things (his hands) were probably lost.
‘It became obvious. My fingers were completely fixed into a clenched fist. As for my toes, I could move a couple of toes on my left leg but there was sort of a little sign of life in them.
‘Maybe they could have saved a bit of a foot but my surgeon said, “You are better off having them off, because you can have prosthetics and you’ll walk far better than having a partial foot.”’
At one stage, doctors were considering issuing a ‘do not resucitate’ order if his heart stopped. However, Mr Mackinlay took his first 20 steps unaided on February 28, marking a major milestone in his recovery after a sombre Christmas period.
Thankfully, he said, his fouryear-old daughter Olivia has dealt with the situation well.
Sepsis, also called septicaemia or blood poisoning, occurs when the immune system overreacts to an infection.
In 2016, the Mail launched the End the Sepsis Scandal campaign following the tragic death of oneyear-old William Mead following a catalogue of misdiagnoses. Despite his ordeal, Mr Mackinlay is ‘ready to get back in the saddle’, serving his constituents and inspiring the next generation.
First elected in 2015, the MP said he will contest his seat at the next election.
He added: ‘(I want to) get back
‘The Grim Reaper let me survive’
to the things I really enjoy. Get back speaking out for the population of South Thanet and get ready for that election – and try to get some decent manifesto points in with the pressure I want to bear. I’m hoping people might give me the benefit of the doubt and say, “That man has been a fighter for himself, he’s damn well going to fight for me, I’m going to give him my support”.
‘The bionic MP is what I want to be. When children come up to Parliament and go to the gallery… I want children to be tugging on their mother’s coats and saying, “I want to see the bionic MP today. That’s what I want to do”.’
He said the loss of his hands has been the most difficult thing to deal with, and that the prosthetic replacements will ‘never be the same’.
He told the BBC: ‘ You don’t realise how much you do with your hands... use your phone, hold the hand of your child, touch your wife, do the garden.’
He added: ‘ The Grim Reaper has let me survive but he’s taken his payment in four of my limbs.’ His wife Kati, a pharmacist, said: ‘It just got to a point when the amputation was the only way forward. That day was difficult. That morning and the night before was very difficult.
‘I went in the morning [on] the first train to get to Craig as soon as possible. He slept very well. I couldn’t because I knew just that [was] it, no way back.
‘He was very matter of fact, he accepted that they’re black, they’re not going to be of use any more and that’s it.
‘So he had a very, very long operation and he did come back without those black arms and legs, and by then I was fine. I just knew that was it. That’s the new future: new life begins.’
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said of Mr Mackinlay on X: ‘An exceptionally brave man. Look forward to welcoming you back to Westminster.’
Tory MP Marco Longhi described his colleague as a ‘hero’.