George's story at Sheffield Children's - recognising and treating sepsis
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00:00George is your typical two-year-old boy, fun, cheeky and full of life and he can
00:12eat for England. George loves animals and in particular loves my mum's dog Bob. I
00:21was actually at work on Friday afternoon and my mum sent me a video of George
00:27walking Bob on his lead. I think as a parent you just know that something's
00:34not quite right. On the Saturday morning he'd had his breakfast as normal and
00:40he'd eaten that but he was a little bit clingy and had a bit of a temperature so
00:45I gave him some Calpon to bring his temperature down but it never came down
00:50it started to creep up. So we went to the walking centre and George was seen
00:57by a doctor but because he started being sick we went to the emergency department.
01:03I thought he had norovirus because he started with really bad sickness and
01:10diarrhoea whilst we were there. So when we got to the emergency department
01:16because we'd already seen a doctor we were automatically sent to AAU where he
01:23was observed by a nurse. George was sleeping and seemed quite lifeless. An
01:31hour went by he started to go grey and his eyes seemed really sunken in and the
01:39nurse came over to me to ask about his colouring and whether or not that was
01:45his usual colour and then she quickly picked up that he had developed a rash
01:50on his chest. It was that small that I'd not seen it and I'd not noticed it.
01:59Things started to deteriorate really quickly. His heart rate started to go
02:06really really high and his blood pressure was getting lower and lower and
02:13he needed oxygen. I think what I found really hard to believe was yesterday
02:20he was walking my mum's dog to eating his breakfast this morning and then we
02:27were here.
02:43Sex is your body's response to an infection where it damages its own
02:48tissues and organs. It is a serious life-threatening condition but it is
02:52rare in children. George was on a ventilator for six days and spent three
03:02days on HDU. We have never been in this environment before and to be put on to
03:12intensive care, it's a whole new world and something that is petrifying for
03:20parents. The team at Sheffield Children's was absolutely unbelievable. I think
03:31because of their communication, how calm and composed they were and how they
03:38looked after us as parents. And then they came to us and said that George was
03:48well enough to make his recovery on Ward 2. I met George and his family down on
03:58Ward 2 during his recovery. They're a lovely family. A huge amount of the
04:03credit has to go to the wards that cared for him and looked after him so well.
04:07It's important to recognize sepsis early because the faster we spot the
04:11signs and symptoms, the easier it is to treat. Every single person that looked
04:19after him, cared for him, they are nothing short of miracle workers and honestly we
04:28cannot thank them enough. They saved George's life.
04:38They just repeatedly said to me, you have got him in at exactly the right time. If I
04:49hadn't have got him in when I did, the picture would have been very, very
04:53different. At Sheffield Children's we're trying to improve patient safety. We're
05:01doing this by educating staff on the signs and symptoms to look out for, how
05:06to escalate these concerns effectively and how to treat within the appropriate
05:10time frame. If you want to know more about sepsis you can visit the NHS
05:17website or the Sepsis Trust which gives advice on symptoms and where to seek
05:21help.