Lewes man speaks of 'terrifying' night sepsis took hold

Walter rapidly deteriorated and was "just six hours from death" when he arrived at hospital

A man who almost died from sepsis has spoken of the "terrifying" night his "body became overwhelmed" in an attempt to raise awareness of the condition.

Walter Hall, from Lewes, was a healthy 16-year-old when he started to feel unwell just before Christmas in 2017.

He went to bed on the night of the 23 December with what he thought was flu but woke hours later sweating, delirious and feeling sick.

"I was so scared I thought I was about to die," he said.

His mother, Kathie Murphy, ran him a bath, but he just sat there, shivering.

"I don't know how long I was there but at the time it felt like forever. I was in so much pain.

"Then I realised that my eyes were open but I couldn't see. There was just black.

"My body became overwhelmed with illness. I was so scared I thought I was about to die," he said.

Hours from death

The next morning, paramedics rushed him to the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton.

"The journey was horrible. I had no idea where I was going. I couldn't process any information - I was still in a state of delirium."

When he got there, he said a doctor told him he was "about six hours away from death" and was lucky to be alive.

After "countless blood tests", he was eventually told he had sepsis arising from swine flu.

Mr Hall, now recovered, said his body was telling him he was going to die

Ms Murphy said: "I had heard of [sepsis] but I didn't know what it was or what to look out for."

Mr Walters is now one of the faces of a campaign by charity Sepsis Research FEAT.

Abi Dawson, of the charity, said: "There are five key symptoms and those are: confusion; uncontrolled shivering; not passing urine for 12-24 hours, cold or blotchy arms or legs and a potentially very high, or sometimes a low temperature."

Mr Hall said: "I remember saying to my mum that I thought I was going to die because that was what my body was telling me.

"A week later, when I found out it was sepsis, we were told that people who have it often feel that.

"It was terrifying."

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].