An Oadby woman has opened up about her experience of contracting Sepsis, in an attempt to raise awareness of the condition which almost claimed her life.
Hajira Piranie, 26, contracted Sepsis three-years-ago, following an operation to remove her ectopic pregnancy.
Although the operation was successful, afterwards she found herself in severe pain, suffering from slurred speech and extreme dizziness.
She was also unable to pass urine.
“I genuinely thought that I was going to die,” Ms Piranie told the Leicester Times.
“As I was trying to walk to the toilet to pass urine, I collapsed. A few days later I woke up in intensive care, hooked up to a ventilator, and we found out that I’d got Sepsis.”
Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection. It happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs.
It is responsible for 48,000 deaths a year in the UK alone.
“Not many people thought that I’d survive as it attacked my lungs and they had collapsed,” revealed Ms Piranie, who was 23 at the time. “My bladder was also badly damaged.
“However, I was transferred to Glenfield Hospital, to the ECMO department, which is basically life-support for your lungs. There’s only five hospitals in the UK that can provide this, but luckily because I was in Leicester, they were able to transfer me quickly,” she added.
“They said that the ambulance ride from the Royal to Glenfield was quite critical and I might not even make the ambulance ride. But once I got there, they put a chest drain in me and repaired my bladder. After that I slowly started to get better, but I was still on the ventilator and ITU for a very long time.”
Ms Piranie is sharing her survival story in the hope of raising awareness about Sepsis – something which is also known as ‘a silent killer.’
She believes there is a lack of awareness about the condition, which claims the life of someone in the world every three seconds.
“If you ask many people in the Leicester South Asian community, nobody knows what Sepsis is. My family members didn’t know what Sepsis was, so it was very difficult at first to find out what’s happening to me,” said Ms Piranie.
“I want to raise awareness, and in that way if someone is able to spot the signs and symptoms on themselves, or their loves ones, they can save lives,” she added.
“Thankfully I was able to fight through it, but many others aren’t so lucky.”
Hajira has gone on to make a full recovery, and to become a Mum to a one-year-old baby boy.
She is hosting a fundraising dinner on Friday (August 19), to raise money for the UK Sepsis Trust.
The charity exists to fight this life-threatening condition, stop preventable deaths and support those affected by Sepsis.
“One in five deaths in the world are due to Sepsis, but not enough people know about it,” explained Ms Piranie.
“If it is picked up early and they get the right support, we can save lives.”
The event will be held at Wesely Hall Community Centre from 7pm.
To find out more, visit: https://sepsistrust.org/
To donate to the cause, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hpiranie
