Liverpool man raising awareness of sepsis symptoms after close call
Adam Stephens was told he would have died had he not been admitted to hospital in time
A Liverpool man has joined a campaign to raise awareness about the common symptoms of sepsis, after a close call that left him at risk of death.
Adam Stephens, a 32-year-old American football player and coach, contracted sepsis in February last year.
He originally thought he had norovirus but when he ended up in hospital he was told he was lucky to be alive.
“I was playing Xbox with friends when I felt I was coming down with something. I started feeling cold, that type of cold when you have flu or a virus,” said Adam. But after five days of thinking it was just a virus, he started to feel much worse.
He started suffering nosebleeds and later became confused. He was later taken by ambulance to hospital, where he spent several days in intensive care.
He said: “The doctors said, ‘if you were a couple of hours later to the hospital you would be dead, and if we didn’t have the modern medicine we do now, you would be dead’.”
Since being discharged, Adam has faced a fight to get back to full health, but has had the support of his family, his employer and charity Sepsis Research FEAT.
Adam says: “I am now trying to make more people aware of sepsis and its symptoms. I am now back to coaching and playing American football and getting back to normal life, but I can’t thank everyone enough for helping me after all this, mainly my parents and family and my close friends and business partner.”
Sepsis is caused by your body's response to infection and can cause shock, multiple organ failure and death.
Its exact causes are unknown and research into the condition is ongoing.
The 5 key symptoms of sepsis are:
• very high or low temperature
• uncontrolled shivering
• confusion
• passing little urine
• blotchy or cold arms and legs