I thought I had a harmless winter cold – then I woke up from a coma about to lose my legs and couldn’t speak for 8 weeks
WHEN Beth Bugden fell ill over Christmas, she assumed it was just a harmless winter cold.
But she was soon left vomiting blue liquid before being rushed to hospital, where tests revealed she was suffering from flu, pneumonia, Strep A and sepsis, and was on the brink of death.
The then-46-year-old was placed in an induced coma and woke up six weeks later to be told she needed both legs amputated.
“Within 24 hours, I was fighting for my life and have been left with life-changing injuries as a result,” she tells Sun Health.
Beth, from Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, started to feel unwell in mid-December 2022.
She was coughing and spluttering, but put her symptoms down to an “innocuous” common cold.
By Christmas Eve, she and her mum were feeling so wretched they decided to change their plans last minute.
“She wasn’t feeling well enough to travel to my house for the big day so we planned to go to my identical twin sister Liza’s instead,” Beth, a former director of service delivery, says.
“After a day of help from my other sister Andrea, moving everything 30 miles down the road to Newbury, I spent the night at her house on December 24.
“It was a decision which saved my life.”
That night, Beth’s condition worsened rapidly.
And by 6am, when families across the UK were ripping into their presents, she was fighting for her life in hospital.
“I developed an agonising pain in my side, and by Christmas morning I had started vomiting blue liquid,” Beth says.
“Andrea called 111 in the early hours and they sent an ambulance to her house, which blue-lighted me straight to A&E in Basingstoke.”
“It was the beginning of an epic battle that not only nearly cost her her life, but also resulted in her having multiple life-changing surgeries,” Andrea adds.
“Christmas celebrations certainly didn’t happen for our family as they did for the majority of others.”
At the hospital, Beth was diagnosed with flu and pneumonia and transferred to the resuscitation area.
“I hadn’t passed any urine for 24 hours by this point, and I had what I now know was suspected kidney failure,” she says.
“Doctors advised Andrea that things were looking a great deal more serious than they first suspected.
“By Boxing Day, the decision was taken to put me into a medically induced coma.
“All of my vital organs had failed, I wasn’t responding to life support and my family were told to prepare for the worst.”
If this can happen to me, it really can happen to anyone. It really is that scary
Beth Bugden
Beth was moved to St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where she was put on an ECMO machine – a type of life support that takes over the heart and lung functions of a patient when they are too sick or weak to work on their own.
It was then that doctors realised that as well as flu and pneumonia, she had Strep A and had developed sepsis.
Strep A is a common type of bacteria that can cause flu-like symptoms. Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection.
Beth was in a coma for six weeks.
When she woke up, she discovered she was likely to lose her legs – and maybe her fingers too.
“I’d missed Christmas and New Year, and when I regained consciousness it was such a lot to take in,” Beth says.
“I was told that my legs, and possibly my hands, might need to be amputated.”
She then couldn’t speak for two months. But once she regained her strength, she couldn’t wait to tell her family how much they meant to her.
“My first words upon seeing Liza and my stepdaughter Catty were, ‘Yay! Hello, I love you’.
“My family and friends were traumatised. They had been by my bedside the whole time, willing me to pull through.
“Andrea had kept a diary of those six weeks, which was later really helpful for me to process what I’d missed.”
In February, Beth had both legs amputated below the knee and an operation to repair the damage to her right lung.
Two months later, she had her thumb and most of her fingers removed on her right hand, as well as all of the fingertips on her left.
She then started her long road to recovery, which, according to Andrea, happened at “a snail’s pace”.
What are the symptoms of sepsis?
SEPSIS is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that happens when your immune system overreacts and starts to damage your body's own tissues and organs.
Symptoms of sepsis in an adult include:
- Acting confused, slurred speech or not making sense
- Blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- A rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis
- Difficulty breathing, breathlessness or breathing very fast
Symptoms in a child include:
- Blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- A rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis
- Difficulty breathing (you may notice grunting noises or their stomach sucking under their ribcage), breathlessness or breathing very fast
- A weak, high-pitched cry that’s not like their normal cry
- Not responding like they normally do, or not interested in feeding or normal activities
- Being sleepier than normal or having difficulty waking
They may not have all these symptoms.
If you think you or someone else has symptoms of sepsis, call 999 or go to A&E.
Source: NHS
“My kidneys completely rejuvenated, and fantastic physiotherapists and a punishing 16-hour-a-week gym schedule helped me to walk with only one stick outside of the bars just five days after getting my prosthetic legs,” Beth says.
“My five-year-old twin nephews have always referred to my lower limbs as my ‘mini legs’ and now they know that these are hidden inside my bionic legs.
“They keep me smiling. I realise how lucky I am to have such supportive family and friends.
“There were only a few days in my entire time in hospital that I didn’t have at least one visitor and that was so vital for my mental health.”
Andrea adds: “Despite Beth’s continued positivity in a truly awful situation, her mental health took a real knock.”
‘COLOSSALLY DANGEROUS CONDITION’
Beth spent seven months in eight different hospitals and was finally discharged in July 2023.
She now wants to raise awareness of sepsis, which kills around 50,000 people every year in the UK.
“Learning to adapt to living at home again and having lost my job as a result of my employer going into liquidation whilst I was in hospital means that there are a huge number of ongoing challenges to overcome,” the trustee of the charity Sepsis Research FEAT, says.
“My passion for the future is helping to spread awareness of sepsis.
“Neither myself, my friends or my family really knew anything about sepsis.
“That’s why I became a trustee for Sepsis Research FEAT, I want to help raise awareness, and be part of the mechanism that leads to research being conducted.
“If this can happen to me, it really can happen to anyone.
“It really is that scary and is therefore vital that people are aware and can recognise the symptoms so that others don’t end up in the same situation that I have.
“Better still, thanks to the work of Sepsis Research FEAT, funds donated mean that sepsis research projects receive funding, and that there may one day be a cure for this colossally dangerous condition.”
Andrea adds: “If in doubt, remember to ask the question – could it be sepsis?”
A fundraiser has been set up to help support Beth. You can donate here.
Sepsis - the facts
- There are 47 to 50million cases of sepsis every year worldwide
- At least 11million people die from sepsis annually
- One in five deaths globally is associated with sepsis
- As many as 40 per cent of cases are in children under the age of five
- Sepsis is the number one cause of death in hospitals
- It is also the most common reason for hospital admission
- Up to 50 per cent of all sepsis survivors suffer from long-term physical or psychological effects
Source: Stop Sepsis Save Lives