Love Island winner Anna McEvoy reveals deadly mistake after developing common infection
Anna McEvoy, 32, admits she had no idea how common and deadly the condition was until she developed it.
Love Island Australia winner Anna McEvoy is urging Aussies to keep an eye out for signs of a fatal disease that can develop from "any infection" after she was left fighting for her life following a urinary tract infection (UTI).
McEvoy, 32, was plagued with persistent UTIs last year and was prescribed the wrong antibiotics. However, the Melbourne woman — who was the winner of the second season of Love Island Australia — knew something was wrong when her stomach pain started to feel like she was being stabbed.
"I was starting to get really bad side pain in the left side of my stomach and I was trying to push it off," she told Yahoo News. "I went to the hospital, was put on an IV drip and antibiotics... but then I went home... that was a mistake."
After trying to get some sleep, McEvoy was woken up by her body "uncontrollably shaking". "I felt so cold, my teeth were chattering so loud, I felt so deeply unwell, and I went to the toilet because I thought I was going to vomit. I looked at my face and I looked blue," she said. She was then rushed to hospital.
McEvoy clung to life after developing preventable condition
What was first thought to be a severe kidney infection was later confirmed as sepsis — a condition that occurs when the body's immune system has an extreme response to an infection, damaging its own organs and tissues.
"I knew of the word, I'd heard people kind of talk about sepsis, but I had no idea what it was. And I thought it wasn't common... I think, being 31 at the time, I really thought that I would be immune to that," she said.
Each year over 55,000 Aussies get sepsis and despite it being a preventable disease, the condition has a one-in-three three-death rate. This is largely down to the rapid rate of decline that the body goes through without treatment, with the risk of death increasing by eight per cent every hour.
Sepsis survivor urges Aussies to keep an eye out for symptoms
After McEvoy was transferred to another hospital where she remained for weeks, before being discharged and then readmitted. She finally recovered without the need of amputation or other long-term impacts, however, many aren't as lucky.
"My story is a reminder that any infection in the body needs to be taken very seriously and you can be any age [when you develop it]," she explained. "Be hyperaware and to check in with your body because if you feel in your heart that something isn't right, it's better to be safe rather than sorry."
World Sepsis Day is next Friday on September 13 and McEvoy is urging Aussies to keep an eye out for sepsis symptoms, which include uncontrollable shaking, chills, fever and low temperature and chills.
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