I’ve lost my legs & fingers to sepsis but I will work again

struggling.” In September last year Karen was finally allowed home but five more operations followed to remove her fingers and graft skin from her abdomen on to her hands. One last op, an abdomen procedure, happened on October 1, this year.

Karen, who has been left with two thumbs and half of her forefinger on her left hand, said: “In some ways, I found losing dexterity in my hands harder than losing my legs. You do everything with your hands and you take your fingers for granted until they’re not there.

“I’ve had to teach myself how to write again. I couldn’t hold a knife but I’ve taught myself to do it. I’ve started wrapping presents for people’s birthdays. It’s working out how to do things differently. I can do things, I just do them slower and in a different way.”

Karen learned to walk with her prosthetic limbs, with the help of parallel bars, on the same day she had them fitted in February.

She said: “It was amazing, a very emotional moment. I was very lucky as I had a great physiotherapist and assistant who pushed me. By July I was able to walk on my own just using sticks. It has been a gradual process.

“But I’m one of those people who needs to run before they can walk.”

Karen and Lyndon used to live an active life before she contracted sepsis, including walks together along the coast.

She is determined to get back to doing what she loves. With the help of pals, who have raised nearly £ 14,000 using Justgiving, she will soon be fitted with more lightweight prosthetics.

She said: “The new prosthetics cost about £7,500 each, but I’ll have to wait for about two years for or my stumps to shrink for them to settle ttle down and get down to the size they hey will stay.

“I’m not planning any kind of prosthetic for my fingers. ngers. I can manage without them. It’s difficult but there’s always a way around things. Now I’ve had my final surgery, my y next step is to get a car, so oi I can have my independdence and get back to work. I won’t be able to do what I was doing before but my boss has been very supportive and is finding something for me.” Meanwhile, Karen is working hard to make people aware of the signs of sepsis, including slurred speech, extreme shivering and muscle pain, not passing urine, severe breathlessness and mottled skin, all signs that she had herself.

She said: “People are still dying from sepsis. It’s such a dangerous thing and it has such a huge impact on people and their families.

“It It helps me to t talk about it. If I can help one person p by letting them know what wha happened, that

will be en enough.”