A young Australian doctor and father of three is grateful to be alive after a life-threatening illness left him unable to walk.
Paediatrician Dr Bradley MacDonald, 37, was admitted to a Western Australian hospital with flu-like symptoms, low blood pressure and heart problems in 2020.
He was diagnosed with sepsis, a dangerous disease in which the immune system attacks tissues and organs, sometimes with fatal consequences.
The man, then 32, spent three months in the hospital, including more than a month in the ICU, five weeks in rehabilitation and two weeks on the ward.
“I was clinically dead. There’s a nice existential feeling that comes after being almost dead for a period of time,” he said. news.com.au.
“There were some changes in my heart monitoring that made (the doctors) think maybe my heart was the cause of my low blood pressure,” she said.
Dr. MacDonald is still unsure how he contracted the serious illness that left him in a coma and with multiple muscle infections.
It took several procedures to remove the infection and drain the pus from his body before he was intubated and treated with antibiotics.
WA paediatrician Dr Bradley MacDonald (pictured) was hospitalised with sepsis in 2020.
The young doctor spent three months in hospital and underwent six weeks of rehabilitation after being diagnosed with sepsis, a dangerous disease with sometimes fatal consequences.
His youngest daughter was only six weeks old when he was first admitted.
Dr. MacDonald said he was lucky to avoid most of the pain by being intubated and “very delirious.”
He lost 22kg and still bears scars from muscle resections, the process in which a section of muscle is removed to shorten and strengthen it.
After six weeks of grueling rehabilitation, he regained enough strength to walk again.
Four years later, the doctor said the experience gave him a new perspective on life and how quickly things can change.
“Even though 2020 was the year of Covid and there was anxiety in the world, I was so grateful to be with my family,” MacDonald said.
He World Health Organization The WHO website noted that sepsis is one of the most common causes of death worldwide.
Dr Bradley MacDonald receives his 2022 Aspire Award from Business Events Perth/AMA (WA)
‘An estimated 18,000 Australian adults are treated in intensive care units for sepsis each year, of whom nearly 5,000 will die,’ according to Queensland Health.
“This is more than double the number of road deaths.”
Older people, infants, pregnant women, and people with underlying health problems are at higher risk for sepsis.
WHO estimates that almost half of all sepsis cases reported worldwide occurred in children under five years of age.