Now Harriet wants other parents to know the ‘silent killer’s’ symptoms.
A new mum who developed deadly sepsis after her emergency C-section wound became infected is desperate for other parents to know the telltale signs of the ‘silent killer’.
Harriet Shearsmith, 29, says she is lucky to be alive after waking to find her nightdress soaked in pus just two weeks after the birth of her first child Reuben.
Pumped with antibiotics for months after the trauma, Harriet, of Malton, North Yorkshire is now campaigning for better education about maternal sepsis.
Harriet after the birth of baby Reuben after leaving hospital (Collect/PA Real Life)
She said: “I truly thought I was going to die and leave my husband Adam a single dad. That cannot happen to other families, so I want to raise as much awareness as possible, to ensure that no one has to go through what I did.
“I want to encourage people to always ask, ‘Could it be sepsis?’ when they experience any of the symptoms or recognise them in their family members.”
Sepsis, also known as blood poisoning, kills 44,000 people in the UK each year, and, without quick treatment, it can lead to multiple organ failure and death.
Harriet with husband Adam and L-R Edith, Tobias and Reuben (Collect/PA Real Life)
Symptoms include slurred speech or confusion, extreme shivering or muscle pain, passing no urine in a day, severe breathlessness, feeling like you are going to die, and mottled or discoloured skin.
How close Harriet came to death is something her husband Adam – now 33 and a stay-at-home dad to their three children Reuben, seven, Tobias, five and Edith, three – cannot bear to think about.
Harriet, who works full time as a family and lifestyle blogger, said: “My husband cannot even talk about that time, as the thought of being left as a widowed dad at 25 is just too horrifying.”
The couple, who met in 2007 in a nightclub and have been together ever since, were ecstatic when Harriet fell pregnant with Reuben in 2010.
Her labour was difficult though. After 36 hours of contractions, her 8lb 3oz son became stuck and he was delivered by emergency caesarean on March 3, 2011, at York Hospital.
When Harriet held her newborn for the first time, she says it was magical.
“It was an amazing moment,” she smiled. “There was the usual excitement around having a brand new baby and, after two days in hospital, we were sent home feeling perfectly happy and healthy.”
But just two weeks later, struggling to produce milk and breastfeed her boy, Harriet developed a headache.
Visiting her GP, she assumed she was simply a tired new mum and vowed to rest more.
But a day later she developed a migraine-like headache so severe that she could barely open her eyes and was drenched in sweat whilst also shivering.
She also noticed her C-section wound felt enlarged and a little bit lumpy.
Taking to her bed, when Harriet awoke around 11pm, she realised her nightdress was soaked in what she assumed to be menstrual blood.
“Adam was asleep next to me so I asked him to get me some clean sleepwear,” she recalled. I hadn’t opened my eyes properly, but when Adam saw me he said, ‘That’s not blood,’ sounding terrified. He said it was pus.”
That is when the seriousness of the situation hit Harriet, with the adrenaline awakening her senses.
“It smelt putrid, like rotting flesh, coming from my C-section wound,” she recalled. The pus and blood mix had covered my nightshirt from above the knee to my chest and it was still seeping out.”
Adam gave Harriet a maternity towel, like a sanitary pad, to stop the flow and went to get her mum Georgina Arkle, 68, a retired nurse who lives with the pair.
“She took one look at me and told Adam to drive us to the hospital as there wasn’t enough time to wait for an ambulance.
“Mum came too so she could take Reuben if we needed her to. I stumbled into A and E and said my C-section wound was leaking fluids.”
She continued: “When the nurse at York Hospital took the maternity towel off and looked at the wound, it spurted forwards towards her and smelt vile.
“The last thing I saw as the room faded black was the nurse grabbing a team to help keep me alive.”
Harriet was kept in hospital for four days whilst her wound was drained and she was pumped with antibiotics.
“I really thought I was going to die,” she said.
“It was four terrible, drowsy days without my newborn or husband. Four days where I couldn’t care for myself and had to have bed baths. I was just hoping that my scar would close and that I could go home soon.”
Harriet admits she had never heard of sepsis before a doctor confirmed her diagnosis, but it is now a word she will never forget.
She said: “The consultant told me if we had left it even just a few more hours, then I could be dead.”
After being discharged, Harriet was given antibiotics to take home to keep any infection at bay.
She admits she initially struggled to bond with her eldest son because of the time they spent apart.
Harriet explained: “I struggled to hold him as easily, I never breast fed him and I often feel like I’ve let Reuben down in some way, like I haven’t been enough of a mum to him.”
But thankfully she had complication-free pregnancies with her youngest two, who were both also born at York Hospital.
Harriet is grateful to the hospital for saving her life and for the care it gave her during all her pregnancies.
Now she wants to raise awareness around maternal sepsis and has started a campaign called Suck It Sepsis.
Aiming to raise funds for charity The UK Sepsis Trust, Harriet wants to prevent other mums from facing the same life-or-death ordeal.
She said: “There needs to be more education so people think of sepsis straight away, and it doesn’t become deadly. I was so lucky that we caught it early, but sadly others are not as lucky.”
Harriet with Reuben (back) Edith and Tobias (Collect/PA Real Life)
Dr Ron Daniels, Chief Executive of the The UK Sepsis Trust and a global sepsis expert, said: “Sepsis strikes indiscriminately, affecting the young and old alike.
“Harriet’s frightening story highlights how, for every child we hear about in the media whose life has been claimed by sepsis, there is another who is grieving the loss of their parent.
“If caught early, sepsis can be easily treated with antibiotics but without quick diagnosis and treatment, the consequences can be devastating.
“We’re very grateful to Harriet for helping to raise awareness of an illness that affects so many yet is so poorly recognised. Together we can encourage everyone to be able to ‘just ask: could it be sepsis?’.”