'I thought I just had a cold - but I lost part of my leg to sepsis'

When Alex Plank developed life-threatening sepsis three years ago, her family was told she was unlikely to survive.

The 41-year-old from Sheffield was rushed to hospital, where she suffered a cardiac arrest in A&E before being transferred to critical care.

"It was expected that I would die," she says.

"My husband was told that, and he sat with me because he was scared to leave me in case he didn't get to say goodbye."

Alex, a mother of two, survived but had her right leg amputated below the knee. She also lost the toes on her left foot and some of her fingers.

"It's completely lifechanging," she says.

"There's me before sepsis and then there's me after sepsis and they're just two completely separate people.

"It's overwritten everything I had planned prior to that point."

Alex had been looking after her youngest daughter at home in Greenhill in May 2023 when she began to feel unwell with what she thought was a "nasty cold".

Her husband, Richard, was out of the house looking after their eldest daughter, who was being treated at Sheffield Children's Hospital for cystic fibrosis.

When he returned home, he found Alex had become seriously unwell and was struggling to breathe, with blue lips and grey fingers.

He called NHS 111 and an ambulance was sent to their home.

Alex was then rushed to the Northern General Hospital as paramedics suspected she had developed sepsis from pneumonia.

Shortly after arriving in A&E she went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated for three minutes.

"I didn't think I was that ill until my husband rang the paramedics," she recalls.

"I still remember the ambulance ride and I remember having a chest X-ray and they told me it was pneumonia.

"I remember all of that and then evidently, I went into cardiac arrest, so in my mind it went downhill significantly very, very quickly.

"I remember my husband arriving and then all of a sudden I don't remember anything until I woke up two weeks later."

Alex spent six weeks in critical care before moving to the infectious diseases ward where she spent a further six weeks.

Following discharge, Alex had surgery to amputate the parts of her body that had been too badly damaged by the infection.

"I've had a right below-knee amputation and full loss of toes on my left foot.

"I've had full or partial amputation of fingers on both hands.

"My heart, lungs and kidneys were also affected."

Since then, Alex has worked hard to rebuild her life, undertaking physiotherapy and strength training.

In September 2025, she took part in the Sheffield 10k and the former university administrator has also retrained as a teaching assistant.

"It was an absolutely devastating situation for me, my family and my husband, but out of it we've really tried to make the most of it, to be the best I possibly can.

"The recovery from critical care to now is the hardest but most rewarding thing I've ever invested in."

Alex's experience highlights the potentially devastating consequences of sepsis, which develops when the body has an extreme reaction to an infection.

There are at least 245,000 cases of sepsis in the UK every year, according to figures published on the UK Sepsis Trust's website.

The data also suggests there are about 48,000 deaths in the UK each year linked to it.

Dr Rachel Foster, a consultant in infectious diseases at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, who also treated Alex, says sepsis can cause "rapid deterioration and even death" if it is not recognised early and treated.

"For Alex, thankfully, her wonderful husband noticed that she really looked unwell, rapidly called the alarm, got an ambulance, and brought her to A&E.

"If he had delayed those actions even for another hour, she may not be here today."

However, Foster adds that it is also important to spot signs of sepsis in patients where it might not be as obvious.

"It's so important that we remain vigilant," she says.

"The subtle things being: is somebody falling? Are they confused? Are they breathing fast? Are they not themselves? Are they profoundly weak?"

According to The UK Sepsis Trust, the warning signs in adults also include slurred speech, extreme shivering, not passing urine over the course of a day and skin that is mottled or discoloured.

In July, the NHS outlined a plan to "reduce death, life-threatening complications and long-term impact from sepsis and severe infection" by at least 25% by 2035.

The plans include better prevention, earlier diagnosis, improved treatment, and research.

For Alex, the experience has changed the way she sees the future.

"Sometimes life is difficult," she says.

"It can feel devastating at the time, but it is possible that things will be OK.

"Life might be different, but it will be OK."

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