Charlotte shares family’s sepsis scare in podcast

CARDIFF-BORN singer-songwriter Charlotte Church has recalled her fear when her auntie, Caroline Cooper, almost died after contracting sepsis.

The pair discussed the ordeal during the latest episode of Charlotte’s podcast Kicking Back with the Cardiffians, which is available to listen to now on BBC Sounds.

After discussing the loss of her own mother (Charlotte’s grandmother) Caroline shared her battle with sepsis, which Charlotte said “frightened” her whole family. Despite admitting she’s not ‘afraid to die’ Caroline revealed that when she was in a coma she did indeed die.

“I swear to god I did die,” she told Charlotte. “And it’s something that my father was always fascinated with. I just felt completely calm.”

Charlotte explained that her auntie, the sister of her mother Maria had a routine operation for Crohn’s disease and that led to her getting sepsis, a serious condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection.

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Caroline explained: “I was in high dependency for a long time. I can remember seeing everybody but just couldn’t speak.”

Charlotte then remarked: “It was really frightening. It was just so shocking seeing you on a ventilator. We did everything we could to bring you back.”

Caroline continued: “In my brain, with you just holding my hand and you saying, ‘We love you’, I thought you were trying to kill me. I thought you were telling me to pass over.”

“I remember going in in the night, and you had woken up from the coma, but you weren’t speaking,” Charlotte recalled.

“You weren’t speaking, and you were just doing these series of movements with your arms and your legs.”

Caroline helped her niece get her first big shot at fame in 1997. When Charlotte made her TV debut on Jonathan Ross’ Big, Big Talent Show, it was her auntie who introduced her. The pair are still extremely close.

Kicking Back with the Cardiffians is available to listen to on BBC Sounds.