Sammi Hassan experienced severe pain hours after being discharged from hospital following abdominal surgery, with her condition worsening dramatically within hours. Sammi Hassan's hands and lips turned blue and became ice-cold to touch. Her mother rang for an ambulance, but with no sign of the ambulance 40 minutes after the 999 call, her parents drove her to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow. Doctors there noticed her heart was racing and her blood pressure was plummeting and correctly suspected she had sepsis. She was put on IV-drip antibiotics while doctors ran checks to confirm their suspicions, and her parents were later told she had been just an hour away from death.
Sepsis occurs when infections turn bad, triggered by any infection—bacterial, viral, or fungal. In sepsis, the immune system starts damaging the body's own tissues, leading to widespread inflammation and potential damage to crucial organs. In Sammi Hassan's case, the trigger for sepsis was an infection following surgery to remove endometrial tissue. Sepsis is one of the UK's biggest killers, claiming an estimated 50,000 lives every year, though nobody knows why some people get sepsis while others don't.
It felt like something terrible was happening inside me.
Amy Bamford lives with an 'unfixable' hernia in her abdomen that has been slowly developing since August 2022, pushing out of a 25 centimetre gap in her belly following emergency surgery. She had five surgeries for lipoedema, but after her fifth surgery, she became septic. Amy Bamford got sepsis in her abdomen and had to have eight surgeries in a month to clear septic tissue, with 80cm of her small intestines removed. The trauma from surgeries weakened her abdominal muscle, leading to a herniation.
Amy Bamford now has a 'giant' incisional hernia, which surgeons and doctors have told her shouldn't be operated on. She has had three NHS consultations and private consultations, but doctors agree her hernia is now too large to repair. Amy Bamford's hernia is large and uncomfortable but stable and not at risk of strangulating.
It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. It took my breath away and made me stop dead in my tracks – it was burning and radiating and constantly worsening.
Billy Porter opened up about his battle with sepsis, which left him 'dead for three days'. He got a serious infection in September 2025, which ended up in a coma, and was forced to withdraw from Cabaret, meaning the Broadway show had to cut a series of performances. His health struggles began after contracting a urinary infection during Cabaret's run at the London West End from January to May.
Billy Porter checked himself into the hospital due to severe pain, and doctors found a kidney stone trapped in his urethra. Doctors put a stent in Billy Porter, redirected the urine, and blasted him with antibiotics. When doctors got in there, there was so much pus, bile, and infection behind the stone, and Billy Porter went uroseptic in minutes. He was quickly hooked up to a life support system.
I was crying, almost howling in pain. I didn't want the kids to see me like that. It was so distressing.
After coming out of the coma, doctors warned Billy Porter that the recovery would be difficult. Doctors told Billy Porter his leg had gone into compartment syndrome.
My hands and lips turned blue and became ice-cold to touch. I was becoming delirious and my heart was racing. I honestly felt doomed. I felt like I was dying.
Things started to go wrong. I got sepsis in my abdomen. I had to have eight surgeries in a month to clear septic tissue and they had to remove 80cm of my small intestines.
Being cut from the top of my abdomen to the bottom, this trauma weakens the abdominal muscle. And, once you have the damage to your abdominal wall it's difficult to go back.
I was in hospital and at my GP a lot [in the years after surgery], sometimes for the growth of my abdomen and pain, and other medical issues.
No-one saw it as a concern. It wasn't serious enough for my referral to be rushed and not one person told me there was a point where it couldn't be fixed.
[Fixing it] would be major surgery, a lot can go wrong, but I have to add on my complex medical history, I've had a stroke, there's a lot of damage in my abdomen, so I'm at a higher risk of complications.
My hernia is large and uncomfortable but it's stable and not at risk of strangulating. It's not the right decision for me to try and repair it. It's scary.
Not only is it very large, even if there was a fix it might not be a permanent fix, and there are also safety issues to consider.
I feel frustrated but also understanding.
It comes with a lot of emotional and physical damage. I flit between hating my body and being grateful for what my body has been through and recovered.
I hate how complicated my relationship is with my body but working every day to make it a little less complex.
My husband has been very good and understanding. He's been with me through it all.
The medicine in the UK is trash. Four rounds of antibiotics and 10 to 12 weeks later, it's a kidney infection with kidney stones. Fast forward, and they finally gave me medicine. It seems to go away.
By Tuesday, I checked myself into the hospital because I'm in so much pain.
They went in to do a routine check. They saw that the kidney stone was trapped in my urethra... put a stent in, redirected the urine, [and] blasted me with real antibiotics. Not that weak s**t. Then go in through my penis and blow up the kidney stones.
When they got in there, there was so much pus, and bile, and infection behind the stone. It bubbled up, and I went uroseptic in minutes.
I was dead for three days. I am a miracle. I'm a walking miracle.
When I woke up, they told me my leg had gone into compartment syndrome, which is when the muscles close in on themselves and cut off the oxygen.