Sheffield boy George recovering after sepsis ordeal as mother thanks hospital staff

“George could eat for England,” said his mother Becky. “He was a bit clingy that Saturday morning but had his normal appetite and he was fine all week. I even have a video of him from the Friday afternoon where he’s walking the dog with his Nanna.”

However, Becky was being cautious with George after a recent case of chicken pox, and something about his sudden high temperature worried her. “I couldn’t get his temperature down so we went to a walk-in centre in Sheffield. While there George vomited so they said we should go to Sheffield Children’s Emergency Department, and he was seen on the Acute Assessment Unit at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

“I thought it was norovirus at first. If you had asked me what a sepsis rash looked like I would have had no idea. He went from eating breakfast in the morning to being ventilated in the evening. I didn’t know how quickly sepsis could take hold. We started to live every parent’s worst nightmare.”

Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection. It happens when the immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage the body's own tissues and organs. It cannot be caught from someone else but it can be very difficult to spot, especially in young children like George.

Becky, speaking after World Sepsis Day on Friday, said: “The doctors and nurses on Acute Assessment Unit at Sheffield Children’s Hospital were amazing. One in particular spotted the rash and cannulated him straight away and then everything happened so quickly. When I asked what they were treating him for they said ‘sepsis, but that is the worst-case scenario’.”

As sepsis can cause rapid deterioration, it was very important that staff reacted quickly and George was soon moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). “The ICU were incredible,” Becky added. “I think I would have been in a far worse state if I hadn’t been reassured by how they approached everything.”

In January 2024, Sheffield Children’s created a new post to support patients, families and staff to detect and treat cases of sepsis as quickly and effectively as possible. Emma Nicholson was appointed as Sheffield Children’s lead sepsis nurse after this was identified as one of a number of actions needed in learning lessons following an inquest last year into the tragic death, in 2022, of 16-month-old Sheffield boy James Philliskirk, who had sepsis but was misdiagnosed with chickenpox.

Emma said: “My role focuses on education and training on recognising sepsis, empowering staff to escalate concerns in a timely way , and the importance of the Sepsis Six – which is a set of six interventions which must be carried out within one hour by healthcare staff when sepsis is recognised.

“It also includes education on the importance of listening to parents’ and carers’ concerns and advocating for these. We have introduced a standardised process to help families to escalate their concerns.”

The lead sepsis nurse role is one of a number of steps that Sheffield Children’s is taking to develop sepsis care with the aim of improving safety, quality of care and the experience of children and families, it says.

Emma added: “We want to provide healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills to be able to recognise the signs early, escalate accordingly and implement treatment in a timely manner.

“We have also been assessing how we’ve managed sepsis in children in the past and are continuously looking for aspects to improve on.”

As part of her role, Emma visited George and his mum after his recovery to hear his story in their own words.

George spent a week on a ventilator on the ICU but as he recovered he was able to move to Ward 2 for rehabilitation, where he spent another week under the care of the Plastic Surgery Team. They still look after George as an outpatient, because when he was unwell that he lost a fingertip.

Becky said: “It’s strange. In a way he’s so unlucky that this happened to him – it’s not very common – but he’s so lucky that he was being looked after by these staff. They said to me that if I had brought him in just a bit later then the picture could have been very different.”