'Last goodbye' mum celebrates Christmas with family

A woman who came so close to death that doctors told her relatives to say their final goodbyes is due to celebrate Christmas with her family one year on.

Tracy Ralph believed she had a cold last year but was "too busy to rest" with two young sons.

She powered through with painkillers but deteriorated and on Christmas Day was put in an induced coma. She was diagnosed with blood poisoning.

The 35-year-old, of Hockley, Essex, said she was thankful to be alive.

Mrs Ralph said septicaemia could have claimed her life were it not for a quick-thinking nurse who called an ambulance.

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She was due to take her eldest son Miller, five, to a pantomime on Christmas Eve before spending Christmas Day at her in-laws.

Tracey Ralph had her legs amputated below the knees and lost most of all her fingers, but not her thumbs

Tracy Ralph said: "It's only the last few months that I feel lucky to be alive and I just appreciate spending time with your friends, family and children."

But her "common cold" took a dramatic turn for the worse.

"Christmas Eve is a blur, I was finding it hard to breathe," said Mrs Ralph, who was diagnosed with pneumonia by a GP.

"Luckily a nurse could see how unwell I was and called an ambulance.

"If it wasn't for her I don't think I would be here today."

Mrs Ralph was put in a coma at Southend Hospital and her husband, Brad, returned home to spend Christmas with Miller and two-year-old Hudson.

"He turned up at hospital that evening in his Christmas jumper because he thought I was going to be OK," said Tracy.

"He got taken into a room and that's when they said there's not much more they could do, I had septicaemia, all my organs were failing.

"They told him to say goodbye to me."

Tracy Ralph suffered a number of infections and blood clots

Tracy had her prosthetic legs fitted and began learning to use them at the Douglas Bader Rehabilitation Centre in Roehampton

She was transferred to St Thomas's in London on Boxing Day and was aware that her blackened fingers and lower legs were to be amputated on 15 January.

"I couldn't speak or move," she said.

"My fingers were black and hard, like claws almost, and I remember thinking how ugly they looked and I was excited they were going to be amputated.

"I thought it was then going to be the road to recovery; not really realising what was ahead."

Tracy said her husband Brad had been her rock and she would not have got through the past year without him

A course of rehabilitation at a specialist centre in Roehampton followed, before Mrs Ralph finally returned home in May.

The house has been adapted to meet her needs but she relies on her husband - her "rock" - who has quit his job to look after her and their sons.

"When I was in Roehampton, I had so much determination," she said.

"I thought 'I will be on prosthetics, I will be able to run', I thought it would be so much easier than it has been.

"Looking after my children has been the biggest struggle, and I am housebound until I get new prosthetic legs."

Tracy Ralph has regular yoga sessions at her home

She said she now placed greater value on small, everyday things like reading a book to her sons and spending time as a family.

"I was in a very dark place, but within the last couple of months I can see a future.

"It's not a future I planned or expected, and of course I will always wish I had my legs and fingers, but I am very thankful I am here."

She will spend Christmas Day this year with her best friend Karla - who she had intended to see the pantomime with last year - and their families.

"Christmas this year will be very different," she said.

"We are finally spending Christmas together, with the people who matter most."

What is septicaemia?

• It's caused by bacteria in the bloodstream

• Symptoms include high temperature, extreme tiredness, violent shivering and chills and feeling faint

• They can also include pale and clammy skin, along with rapid and shallow breathing

Source; NHS England