A MUM says she would be dead if she hadn't trusted her "gut instinct" and begged to be taken to A&E "looking like a zombie". Leah Denney initially believed she had a "bad cold" but it turned out to be life-threatening sepsis . The 28-year-old had been struck down by flu-like symptoms , including an aching body and fluctuating temperature.
She dosed up on cold medication and got plenty of rest in the hope that she'd soon shift it. But soon, Leah was unable to keep any food or fluids down so she visited an out-of-hours urgent care centre, where medics said she had an urinary tract infection (UTI) and prescribed her antibiotics . Days later, she went back to the department, where doctors dished out more pills to tackle the sharp, stabbing pains in her chest and the aches in her side.
Feeling like she was "dying" and "looking like a zombie", the beauty therapist begged her mum to take her to A&E for help. There, doctors ran tests and discovered she had a horror combination of flu , Strep A , pneumonia and a stage-three kidney infection, that eventually led to sepsis - a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. Leah was placed in an induced coma that evening and had her collapsed right lung drained of 2.
8 litres of fluid. The mum-of-one was brought round 12 days later and was eventually allowed home to relearn how to eat and walk. Despite making a good physical recovery 18 months on from her hospitalisati.
