I nearly died after catching sepsis from hopping into my friend’s hot tub
WHEN Hayley Thomas hopped into a friend’s hot tub, she could never have imagined that she would end up fighting for her life. In the days following her dip in the tub with five-year-old son Justin John, Hayley developed large oozing sores all over her body. Bacteria had seeped into her bloodstream through a tiny […]
WHEN Hayley Thomas hopped into a friend’s hot tub, she could never have imagined that she would end up fighting for her life.
In the days following her dip in the tub with five-year-old son Justin John, Hayley developed large oozing sores all over her body.
Bacteria had seeped into her bloodstream through a tiny shaving cut on her leg. Hayley had contracted sepsis.
While doctors warned her to prepare for large areas of skin to be removed, or even limbs amputated, Hayley, 46, was just relieved it was her and not her son.
The single mum from Swansea, says: “I was terrified. I’ve always been fit and healthy.
“To hear I could die because of a tiny shaving cut after relaxing in a hot tub was just unbelievable.
“I’ll never step foot in one again. It scares me when I see people getting in them, especially kids. JJ was in the hot tub with me that day, and if he had caught that infection, he wouldn’t be here today. I’m so lucky that it was me who fell ill and not my little man.”
Hayley shaved her legs and suffered a tiny cut just hours before going in the hot tub over the May bank holiday weekend.
The next morning she was covered in painful rashes.
She says: “My skin was on fire from the minute I woke up. I couldn’t understand it. I hoped it would get better but by the end of the weekend, my whole body had been ravaged by these rashes.
“JJ’s school texted a few days before about a chickenpox outbreak, so I thought I must have shingles.
“I saw the out-of-hours doctor on Monday evening and prayed I’d get better with antibiotics — but every day I woke up feeling worse.”
It was not long before Hayley’s entire body was covered in large oozing sores. Nine days after going in the hot tub, she went to A&E at Aberystwyth Hospital but, because she was not classed as a priority, left and phoned NHS Direct instead.
Hayley, a management trainer, says: “My body looked horrendous and I had no idea what was happening. But when I turned up at A&E nobody seemed to agree how quickly I needed to be seen.
“I phoned NHS Direct again in tears. Relief washed over me as the handlers told me to head to Morriston Hospital in Swansea, but by the time I arrived my legs had gone so weak I could barely walk.”
After Hayley collapsed on a bed, doctors took a biopsy from one of the sores, which revealed sepsis.
She says: “I couldn’t understand it. I’d always eaten healthily and kept fit so I could be the best mum possible, so I was shocked to hear my skin was turning gangrenous.
“They told me that the bacteria that was destroying my body loved to grow in hot water and it had entered my bloodstream.
“They said I had septicaemia — a life-threatening condition which could lead to multiple organ failure if not treated immediately.”
Hayley was hooked up to a drip to flush her system with antibiotics and painkillers.
She says: “I dropped JJ off at my parents’ before I headed to the hospital, but lying alone in the bed, terrified of dying at any minute, all I wanted was to hold him and cry.
“Skin began to fall off my infected limbs and to my horror doctors told me that if it continued to get worse, surgeons would have to cut away large chunks of infected skin to try to save my life.”
Symptoms of sepsis
If you, a loved one, or in the case of medical professionals their patient, feels “severely sick”, doesn’t appear to be themselves and shows any of the following symptoms, sepsis should be suspected:
- weakness
- loss of appetite
- fever and chills
- thirst
- difficult or rapid breathing
- rapid heart rate
- low blood pressure
- low urine output
If a person is suffering these symptoms and they are thought to have suffered an infection – pneumonia, abdominal infection, urinary infection, or a wound – sepsis is a likely cause.
After a week, Hayley was stable enough to be transferred to the dermatology department at the city’s Singleton Hospital.
As her sores began to heal, Hayley was desperate to hug her boy.
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She says: “I just had to see him. I’m a single parent, and my heart breaks to think of leaving my little boy without a mummy.”
Two months on from her ordeal, Hayley’s skin has healed well but the red patches have left a lasting reminder of what she went through.
Hayley says: “I nearly lost my life and the fact I’m still here has left me so thankful for every single day I get to spend with my son. I’ll never take that for granted again.”
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