Rugby club ticket sales donated to sepsis amputee

Lily McGarry, 23, has had all four limbs amputated after being diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia

A rugby club is to donate money made from ticket sales to support a medical student who had all her limbs amputated following septic shock.

Lily McGarry, 23, from Jersey woke up one day in January with a sore throat and a cough but days later suffered two cardiac arrests and was fighting for her life.

Ms McGarry's family has set up a fundraiser for her recovery and thanked everyone who had offered support.

In a post on Facebook, Jersey Rugby Club said that all of the ticket sales from entry to Saturday's match vs Chinnor RFC, will be put towards "helping Lily rebuild her life".

It added: "The funds raised will help the family provide prosthetics, adaptations to living environment, as well as the physiotherapy and rehabilitation necessary for Lily's recovery."

The chairman of Jersey RFC said the club wanted to show support for a member of the island community

Dan McAlister, Jersey RFC chairman, said: "You read about these things happening, they happen all over the world but you don't expect them to happen to people that are so close to your home in Jersey.

"What we are doing is nothing in the scheme of it, but everybody just dig deep.

"This is not about the rugby club, this is just about the rugby club being part of the community by reaching out and helping."

Six key symptoms

Dr Ron Daniels, founder of the UK Sepsis Trust, said every day the charity heard stories like Lily's where healthy, young people developed sepsis and were left with life-changing effects.

He said sepsis always started with an infection but it was not known why some people developed it and others did not.

He said sepsis could happen to anyone, of any age, but it could present very differently in each patient, making it hard to identify.

He said there were six key symptoms people could look for, that spelt out the word 'sepsis':

• S - slurred speech or confusion

• E - extreme pain in muscles and joints

• P - passing no urine in a day

• S - severe breathlessness

• I - people saying 'it feels like I'm going to die'

• S - skin that's mottled, discoloured or very pale