Mick O'Dowd

Mick, 47 years old, married with 2 children, mechanical project engineer prior to sepsis. Lives in Sydney Australia.

I was feeling unwell leading up to Christmas 2018. On Christmas day I was cooking a BBQ for my extended family and was starting to feel very unwell. That night I had extreme pain in my right glute (bottom) muscle. The pain was so intense I asked my wife to take me to the emergency department. I had no previous injuries or wounds on my body. I was diagnosed with sciatica and discharged from the hospital, I had no skin redness or inflammation in the area. The next afternoon I felt like I was going to die and went back to the emergency department where I was admitted. My condition was deteriorating rapidly, my heart rate was elevated and my blood pressure was falling, my breathing was shallow and rapid. I was rushed to an Intensive Care Unit in preparation for emergency surgery to save my life

I had a Strep-A infection which caused necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease) and led to sepsis, which progressed to septic shock. I had my right glute muscle removed, requiring reconstructive surgery on my right side. I was in multi-organ failure on dialysis and a ventilator. Over the following weeks, I had my arms amputated below the elbow and my legs above the knee. I had intestinal ischemia resulting in a colostomy, I had a tracheotomy and I was ventilated for 6 months with ongoing pneumonia. I couldn't speak or eat for 6 months. As part of the infection and sepsis, I lost most of the skin on my back and below my hips and my legs. This required extensive skin grafting. I spent 5 months in ICU followed by 4 months in the Burns Unit before being transferred to Rehab. I spent a total of 1 year in hospital before I was discharged.

I have now been out of the hospital for 12 months but have needed a few more operations during that time to debride bone infections and replace my right shoulder due to avascular necrosis. In total, I have had 24 surgeries since getting sick. I am still doing rehab at home to build my strength and have started the journey of prosthetics. I am enjoying spending time with my wife, two young children, and working out new ways to do the things I love like going to the beach with the kids and being involved in their daily lives.