Long road to recovery after sepsis ordeal for Wolverhampton woman, but also a desire to help others avoid same illness

After being taken to hospital, her heart stopped six times while in intensive care at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, before surgeons at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley later had to amputate both of her legs below the knee, as well as both of her hands, due to the spread of sepsis.

She spent 32 weeks in hospital and has only recently been able to go home, with a bed set up in her living room and two wheelchairs, but with work needing to be done to make the house more disability accessible.

Her husband Kam described finding her with ice-cold hands and feet, purple lips and struggling to breathe and said it had been a shock to see how quickly things had escalated and how they hadn't known enough about sepsis at that point.

He said: "We didn't expect that you could get sepsis from a little cut and it could go that far, because Manjit had said she thought she had a cold when she came from work, but overnight and in the morning, I found her unconscious.

"Both her hands and feet were ice-cold, as were her lips and nose, but the rest of her body was warm and, at the time, we didn't know what the symptoms were for sepsis and what to look for and even when she came in from work, we didn't know what it was and just presumed it was a cold and carried on as normal.

"She took a couple of paracetamol and went to bed and I was downstairs and went to work on the night shift, so I can't imagine what she went through that night, but in the morning, I went to sleep and, two hours later, I got up by coincidence to ask if she'd phoned the doctors and that's when I found her on the sofa."

Manjit said she was still struggling to believe what had happened and also said she wasn't getting the professional support she required to help her at home.

She said: "I find it very hard at home at the moment as I don't think I'm getting enough support for what I need, which I did get in hospital.

"Mentally, I'm not getting any help and, health-wise, there's still a long road ahead and I'm still trying to find my way in myself as I don't know how I'm going to cope in the future.

"It's something which is very serious as I didn't expect sepsis to make me lose my limbs and my hands, which has been a really big thing for me as you can get prosthetics for legs, but if your hands aren't working, it's going to be very hard for me."

For her husband, life has changed for him as well, having had to take seven months off work to care for his wife, although he said his company Wincanton GXO Screwfix had been very supportive.

While the couple are dealing with the current situation, they are looking to the future and to helping Manjit to regain her independence, starting with the fitting of artificial legs.

She said: "I'm looking forward to that and while I know that it's not going to be 100 per cent because I'm going to have to learn how to walk again and it's going to be a big step for me, I'm hoping to get all the support I need when I'm working on this.

"That's what I'm trying to do, but there are obstacles in the way because I'm waiting for my hands and legs to heal, which they haven't yet and may take a few more months to do so.

"I still live in pain every day and I'm finding it very hard to sleep and having sleepless nights, so I wouldn't wish sepsis on anyone."

Help with gathering the funds to pay for artificial hands, which Mr Sangha said could cost up to £50,000, has been aided by a Go Fund Me page set up by their niece, which has raised more than £36,000 to date.

While what happened to Manjit has been an ordeal that has affected her life and left both her and her husband struggling to fully take in what has happened, they have both said they want to make sure that no one else has to go through what they have been through.

Manjit said: "I would advise people to look for the symptoms, which can include a shortness of breath, feet and hands getting cold, having a temperature and vomiting.

"It all comes in different stages and there are different types as I think I had the worst one ever and I'd never seen things like blisters all the way up my legs, changing every day and weeping quite badly.

"My hands were also bad, with one really aching, and I've still got the bandages on now as my skin is not healing and I've got to wait for the skin to heal.

"If someone has got symptoms, I would tell them to go to emergency straight away, don't even think about it and just go because you don't know how serious it could get."

For Manjit Sangha, while the road to recovery is a long one, she is still thankful to be alive and was thankful for everyone who helped her along the way, while her husband said his wife was the most resilient person he had ever met.

Manjit said: "The medical professionals were great at every hospital I was in, as well as the nurses, plus my family have been really supportive and the neighbours have been coming out to help us wherever they can, and my husband has been the biggest support of all."

Kam said: "She's a fighter as she survived the sepsis and said 'I'm not going to let this beat me, I will beat this' and even after a quadruple amputation, she's still here today and still fighting.

"She wants to get back on her feet, get back to work and be independent and while we know it's going to be a long journey and we don't know how long it will take, she's determined to get there and I will help here every step of the way."