Sepsis amputee tells MP: 'Give yourself time'

Caroline from Bedford said losing her hands and feet was "a small price to pay for still being here" after she almost died of sepsis

A woman who had a quadruple amputation after contracting sepsis has encouraged an MP in the same boat to “give yourself time”.

Caroline Coster, from Bedford, spoke after Craig McKinley lost his hands and feet through the life-threatening illness.

He received a standing ovation as he returned to Parliament, but has since decided not to stand for re-election.

Ms Coster also advised Mr McKinley to “find your range of tools – I now have 12 different prosthetic arms”.

“I have one for washing my hair, one for eating, one for reading books,” she said.

Craig McKinley MP lost his hands and feet after contracting sepsis but says despite the loss, he trid to stay "cheerful and positive"

Ms Coster contracted the illness after developing Covid-19 at the start of the first lockdown in 2020.

Her GP sent her to hospital where she was placed in an induced coma for two weeks.

“I woke up a bit like Craig, with totally black hands and feet," she said.

"My first memory was to ask the doctors and nurses to take the gloves off my hands. They told me those weren’t gloves,” she recalled.

• Listen: My hands and feet went black

Mr McKinley described feeling “surprisingly stoic” about the situation, which also echoed Ms Coster’s experience in hospital.

She said: “I had an immense sense of peace. I could see my hands were useless. So many people said: ‘You’re our miracle, we didn't think you’d make it.’

“I put a lot of it down to my Christian faith and people praying for me, and work I'd done on mindfulness and focusing on the moment.

“But a lot of it was knowing how close I’d come to death. My hands and feet are a small price to pay for still being here."

Ms Coster said she was now “living and loving my second life” but acknowledged that “it takes a long time to do things again".

“I put myself under a lot of pressure to do things at first. Now I’ve learned to pace myself better," she said.

She encouraged Mr McKinley to "reach out to other quads" (people with quadruple amputations).

"We all have ways of coping and you might pick up good ideas," she said.

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