Sepsis survivor recounts miraculous recovery, raises awareness in new book

For seven weeks, UK-based Nigerian entrepreneur, Joyce Oluwole’s life hung in the balance and the only indication that she was alive were the intermittent beeps from various machines attached to her lifeless body.

After doctors’ battle to revive her from the coma paid off, for another nine months, she was placed under intense monitoring by specialists in the hospital.

And when on Wednesday evening, Oluwole recounted her ordeal to about 50 people at the Moremi Hall, Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos State, her survival story left mouth agape.

For many at the event, nothing better captures her survival experience than the ‘miraculous’ as it conveys a sense of wonder.

The entrepreneur, who is now a motivational speaker and sepsis awareness advocate, also documented her compelling experience in a book titled ‘My Miraculous Survival After Sepsis’, which was launched on Wednesday.

Sepsis, according to the World Health Organisation, is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection, leading to organ dysfunction.

Sepsis is caused by bacterial infections resulting from other viruses, parasites and fungal infections

The WHO noted that although sepsis could affect anyone, the elderly, young children, pregnant women and persons with underlying health problems were at risk of the disease.

Sharing her story, Oluwole said, “As I was feeling out of sorts, on the 1st of April, 2015, April Fool’s Day, I had to go to hospital. I went to the surgery department but ended up at the Accident and Emergency. They did not discover anything for seven weeks and I was in a coma. Three weeks into my coma, they discovered that I had sepsis of unknown cause.

“It was not until a year after, because I continued doing blood tests every day, even after they discharged me, they discovered that I had meningococcal bacteria. That is the bacteria responsible for meningitis. I always thought it was only children who had meningitis, but adults can have it too.

“During the coma, I had multiple organ failure. I had a septic shock. I had a stroke. And so I was taken to intensive care. I was there for four months. I don’t know what happened during the four months. I didn’t realise what happened until the fifth month when I was put in a private ward. I was not bothered about the legs at all because I knew that they kept me alive.”

She recounted that when the pain became intense, she thought she was going to die.

 The sepsis survivor further noted that a few months after the amputation of her legs, she noticed gangrene on her fingers and requested that they be amputated as well.

 Oluwole said after three months, her seven fingers were amputated.

 She recounted, “So the day before, I had planned in my mind that, well, this is it. I’m going back to my father, my maker but he had other plans for me. The operation was successful, and I woke up. And I said, oh, my God, I’m alive. What would you like me to do? And I prayed in my house, whatever it is you want me to do, give me the enablement to do it. Help me never to fall into depression as a result of my disabilities. I started writing my book from the hospital. They brought me a recorder. I would record things. I couldn’t use my fingers. I recorded 5,000 words.

“But as I got stronger because, by 2019, I was up, I was doing all sorts of things. And then I felt it in my spirit that since he’s kept me alive, he wants me to be a testimony to what he has done for me. So that anybody, not necessarily sepsis, anybody in whatever situation they are, God can come through for them,”

A volunteer with the UK Sepsis Trust in England, Oluwole is now an advocate for the awareness of sepsis in Nigeria and England.

She asserted that illnesses that have refused to go after medical treatment should be investigated for sepsis.

The entrepreneur added, “What we’re trying to do now is hopefully, if anybody has sepsis, the government will step in. In England, research is going on, and they are helping people with sepsis. But they are trying.

 “We need to get the hospitals here to have those placards saying, ‘Could it be sepsis?’ That is the only way people find out about it in England when they go to see a doctor.

 “Like me, they told me that I had it three times. Fortunately for me, I was still in hospital in those nine months. I’ve read about people who’ve had it 20 times. No, they didn’t lose any limbs but they have become shadows of themselves. The worst one is if you have it internally and it’s affecting the five organs. That is terrible.

“I had all of it but God had a purpose. I had multiple organ failure. Several times they told my husband to go and prepare the family thinking that I might not make it. But here I am, that is why I’m now shouting it from the rooftops that everybody has to know.

“I’ll tell you, in the whole of the UK, there are 250,000 people, including me, I’m one of them, who had sepsis. But 52,000 die every year from not knowing about it, or it had gone advanced. Within 45 minutes, the patient must be treated. Otherwise, the risk of death is very close.”

Explaining what sepsis is, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Professor Emmanuel Otolorin, explained that it begins as a mild infection that progresses and affects other organs of the body.

He further noted that infectious diseases are common in Nigeria and Africa, with most health challenges being communicable diseases.

The don said, “Sepsis is just a very bad infection. It starts as a mild infection and then it becomes a moderate infection. It starts from a local part of the body; it could be the lungs, skin, kidney or any organ.

“It starts as a local infection and then when we ignore it (the symptoms), or don’t recognise it, it begins to spill the organism that is causing it, which is usually bacteria, but it could be fungi or virus

“Now when those viruses dominate that local area and they get into the blood, then we have what we call septicaemia, which means there are infective organisms inside the blood.

“The purpose of blood is to carry oxygen all over the body. So in doing this work, it carries all the infectious agents, the bacteria, all over the body. And when it’s not treated, or if it is being caused by an organism resistant to antibiotics, it then attacks multiple organs.”

Otolorin, who is Oluwole’s cousin, further explained that when the disease-causing organism affects several organs in the body, it leads to multiple organ failure and if it affects the brain, it could result in a coma.

The maternal health expert emphasised that patients who reach the stage of coma require specialist attention in well-resourced facilities.

The retired don also decried the lack of emergency preparedness and insufficient optimal facilities in many hospitals across the country.

He emphasised that hospitals managing sepsis patients must have functional microbiology, radiology, chemical pathology and renal support to ensure that the necessary tests and procedures are carried out promptly and effectively.

The expert noted that sepsis is not uncommon and affects all age groups, including children.

Otolorin said the risk of sepsis in children is reduced through the administration of vaccines to prevent certain infectious diseases.

The don added, “There are some infectious conditions that can be prevented through vaccinations. So we have vaccine-preventable diseases. We’re always shouting that children should be taken for vaccinations because when you are born, you don’t have that immunity to take care of infections.”

He expressed gratitude to the medical team and God for making Oluwole survive the sepsis.

“You were in a coma for seven weeks and to come out is a wonderful experience. Well, let me first thank your husband, who was courageous to sign the consent for the amputation of your legs because I believe he did.

“Because some people will say, ah, I reject it in Jesus’ name. And you don’t decide in time. But that decision was taken, surgery was done and it saved her life.

But when gangrene starts from the most distal part, it keeps ascending and you need to stop it sometime. They stopped it before it got to the hip and that’s a courageous thing,” Otolorin said.

Also speaking at the book launch, the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Coleson Brokers Nigeria Limited, Michael Olawale-Cole, praised the writer for allowing her condition to inspire her to be a good person, a mentor and a leader.

He stated that since sepsis could happen to anybody, the book was important for everyone.

Another sepsis survivor at the event, Taiwo Taiwo, recalled being in a coma for some weeks but did not have any of her limbs amputated.

According to her, she also had multiple organ failures but it was eventually reversed with medications.