‘I went to bed with back ache – hours later I was fighting for my life’

On the wall in her hospital room Sadie Kemp has her bucket list pinned up – the items are varied, from visiting Los Angeles to learning to watching her son go to prom. And she’s determined to tick them all off.

But she’s aware that she’s got a long road to go before she’s fully recovered – at the moment she can’t even feed herself.

The mum of two had her whole world turned upside down on Christmas Day last year. At 2.30pm she was sitting down to Christmas lunch with her family – by 4pm she was writhing on her bathroom floor with agonising backache. Hours later she was in a coma after a trapped kidney stone caused her body to be ravaged by sepsis – a life-threatening condition where tissues and organs begin to die or become necrotic as the body responds to another infection.

When she came round two weeks later, doctors told her that she faced having all four of her limbs amputated, where the tissue had died.

Sadie, 34, who is mum to Kenzie, 16, and Hendrix, two, and lives in Peterborough, says, “When I woke up from the coma, I was told all my limbs may need to be amputated, I was absolutely devastated. I turned to my mum and said she should have pulled the plug on the life support machine. I saw my arms with blackened skin where the tissue had died and felt sick.

“But gradually I’ve got used to what’s happened and I’m determined to enjoy the second chance of life that I’ve been given and will make sure my life is better than ever.

“Doctors told me I should have died with the amount of poison in my blood. I still have sad days when I cry but, as my mum said, I’d rather have my boys visit me in hospital than at my grave. I have hope for the future and I know how strong I can be.”

Sadie was spending Christmas with her mother and the rest of her family when she fell ill.

She remembers, “It was a wonderful morning, my kids loved their presents. Then we sat down for lunch at about 2.30pm and I remember my brother and I laughing and reminiscing about previous Christmases.”

After lunch Sadie helped Hendrix build his new toy kitchen, so when she had backache, she presumed it was from bending over. A couple of hours later she went to have a bath as she was meeting her boyfriend, Lewis, 32, a bricklayer, later on that evening.

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She says, “I was suddenly in complete agony, screaming on the bathroom floor for help. My stepfather drove me to hospital. They gave me painkillers and told me to come back in the morning for a scan.”

But at 4am on Boxing Day morning, Sadie was in so much pain she was being sick. She went back to hospital and collapsed in A&E.

The next thing Sadie knew, it was the New Year. She’d been transferred to Peterborough Hospital and operated on. A kidney stone had got trapped in a tube, which caused a build up of urine that turned septic, and she was put in an induced coma for 10 days while her body was pumped full of antibiotics.

She says, “When I came round, I was delirious. But after a few days I took in what they had said about amputating my limbs and I thought my life might as well be over. All I could think about was what I wouldn’t be able to do. How would I look after my children? How could I work again? I was sobbing, unable to picture my life.”

But incredibly, Sadie’s tissues started to heal. And doctors believe that she will keep her arms, though there is no hope for her fingers.

On 9 February, her fingers were amputated from her left hand, but doctors have now sewn the palm of her hand, still attached to her arm, into her stomach, where new tissue and blood vessels will grow. It will stay there for three weeks and will save the palm of her hand. It’s a technique usually used on war veterans.

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Sadie says, “When they told me what they were going to do, it sounded like something out of a horror film, but it was my only chance to keep my hand. And they told me that once I had recovered, they would do the same for the other hand.”

At present doctors don’t know what will happen with her legs. They hope that her right leg will recover but fear she will need her left leg amputated below the knee as the tissue and skin doesn’t seem to be repairing. But it will be months before they make their final decision.

Sadie knows that whatever happens next, she will manage. She says, “When I first heard, I thought my life might as well have been over. I couldn’t imagine ever going to the pub again or that my boyfriend would want to stay with me. I tried to finish it with him as we’d only been together for four months and I didn’t want him to feel he had to be with me. But we’re stronger than ever.

“Most of my worries were centred around my boys. I couldn’t imagine how I could be a mum to them. I’ll never get to stroke their faces again, which is heartbreaking.

“I worry about work, I used to work for NHS Track and Trace, which involved driving, and I won’t be able to do that for a while.

“I was a busy mum and appearances really matter to me – I loved getting my hair done and my eyelashes and putting on make-up – the nurses are doing that now.

“But I’ve switched my focus to what I will be able to do rather than what will never be the same again. And I’ve set myself goals, like to be at my Kenzie’s side at his prom in June. And one of the main things on my bucket list is to get the kids one of the bricks outside West Ham stadium with their names on – we are all huge footy fans.

“My mum is currently looking after them both and I am so grateful. I’m desperate to get back to my ‘normal’ life. I know it will be different, I’m prepared for people staring at me because of my amputations. I’m just grateful to be here and have the chance of a better life with my boys.

“I know that I will get through this – I’m a warrior.”

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