I knew nothing about sepsis ...until it hit me
A BRAVE Scot who started her own sepsis awareness campaign yesterday hailed the launch of a Scotland-wide drive to tackle the condition.
Quadruple amputee Corinne Hutton was a fit businesswoman before falling ill with pneumonia nearly five years ago.
She went on to develop sepsis and surgeons were forced to amputate both her hands and her legs below the knee as they battled to save her life.
The mother of one had been suffering from a bad cough for a fortnight and went to her GP just hours before being admitted to hospital, where she nearly died.
Miss Hutton, like many Scots, was unaware of the symptoms of sepsis and how serious the condition was to become.
Last year, after Health Secretary Shona Robison rejected calls for a campaign, Miss Hutton decided to launch her own awareness drive on social media.
As the founder of amputee support charity Finding Your Feet, she is passionate about helping those in a similar position to her – and ensuring that others can be saved.
Speaking last night, Miss Hutton said: ‘I’m delighted. Before this happened to me I didn’t know what sepsis was and I think we have to try to spread the word so that in the future we can prevent people from dying and from amputations.
‘We have got a chance to spread the word. Everyone should know what to look out for and what sepsis is.
‘I don’t want to start a panic but people knowing the symptoms and asking “is this sepsis?” might just be enough.’
Miss Hutton, of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, has acknowledged that she is ‘lucky’ not to have died.
However, she added: ‘We have got too many amputees as a result of sepsis.’
Following her online campaign she was approached by the Scottish Government and she been working with it to develop the nationwide drive.
She said: ‘I think the campaign is a great idea, and it was very good of them to invite us to be part of this.’
Miss Hutton was 43 when she went to her doctor on a Friday afternoon after suffering from a bad cough for two weeks.
Her GP told her she had a chest infection and sent her to the pharmacy to get antibiotics.
Only 24 hours later she was in hospital with total organ failure and given less than a 5 per cent chance of survival. She lost her legs and hands as a result of sepsis, which shut down the circulation to her limbs.
As well as running a charity for amputees, she also campaigns to raise awareness of the major symptoms of sepsis in a bid to save lives and stop others suffering amputations.
In another case, Jim Robertson’s wife Liz died after contracting sepsis two years ago. She was 61 and Mr Robertson only discovered what had killed her when it was printed on his wife’s death certificate.
Since then he has campaigned and petitioned the Scottish Government in a bid to raise awareness of the condition.
Last night he welcomed the campaign, adding: ‘I kept being told Liz was suffering from another conditions and not sepsis.
‘If I had been aware I would have asked more questions. In retrospect I knew she was suffering from sepsis.’
Of the government campaign, he said: ‘It’s good because I certainly want more public awareness, but I want clinicians to be more aware, too, so they can diagnose and treat earlier.’