Cut from bowling ball left woman with sepsis

Nakita Harden's thumb required emergency surgery

A mother who developed sepsis after cutting her thumb on a bowling ball said she wanted to use her experience to warn others about the condition.

Nakita Harden, 33, from Norwich, was taken to hospital after her boyfriend Jordan recognised the symptoms.

She underwent emergency surgery to have the infection removed and said she thought she was going to die.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition which can be difficult to spot.

“When you cut yourself you just get on with it, don’t you?” Ms Harden said.

“I knew nothing about sepsis. And that’s why I’m doing this. I think it’s important that as many people know what to look out for, and that symptoms aren’t ignored.”

Ms Harden wants to raise awareness of sepsis symptoms

Ms Harden cut her thumb on a bowling ball during a night out on 19 November 2022.

Her boyfriend Jordan took her to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in the early hours of the next morning after she woke in the night feeling unwell.

Doctors immediately assessed her thumb and diagnosed her with sepsis, a condition that develops when someone’s immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage their own tissues and organs.

“I thought ‘this is it, I’m in the waiting room of death’,” Ms Harden said.

She was sent for emergency surgery and the infection was cut away from her thumb, leaving a large hole.

Ms Harden, who has two young children, was discharged from hospital later that evening with antibiotics.

It took her two weeks to fully recover.

Infected tissue was removed from Ms Harden's thumb

“I couldn’t really process what had happened,” she added.

“I was just thinking about the kids. I was worried that I wouldn’t get to see them.”

Sepsis is sometimes called septicaemia or blood poisoning.

Symptoms can vary between adults and children but often include breathing difficulties, confusion, discoloured lips or tongue and a rash that doesn’t fade when a class is rolled over it – similar to meningitis.

Each year, 123,000 people in England develop sepsis with about 36,800 associated deaths.

The NHS said anyone that thought they might have the condition should call 999 or go to A&E.

Ms Harden said she thanked her boyfriend for recognising the symptoms.