Hours after being discharged from hospital following abdominal surgery, Sammi Hassan was hit by a sharp stabbing sensation that left her \u2018howling\u2019 in pain.<\/p>\n
\u2018It felt like something terrible was happening inside me,\u2019 says Sammi, 33, a mother of two who works in banking.<\/p>\n
She was used to severe pain. Every month she ended up doubled over in agony on her bedroom floor as a result of endometriosis\u00a0\u2013 where cells from the lining of the womb grow elsewhere in the body, which can be especially painful around a woman\u2019s period. But this was at another level.<\/p>\n
\u2018It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018It took my breath away and made me stop dead in my tracks\u00a0\u2013 it was burning and radiating and constantly worsening.<\/p>\n
\u2018I was crying, almost howling in pain. I didn\u2019t want the kids to see me like that. It was so distressing.\u2019<\/p>\n
She called the hospital where the surgery had taken place and was told \u2018it might even be period pain as my period was due\u2019, says Sammi, who lives in Essex with her husband, Tarik, 37, and daughters, Isabella, four and Celine, two.<\/p>\n
Within hours her condition worsened dramatically.<\/p>\n
![\"Following](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/25\/11\/107257285-15660717-image-m-35_1774438052192.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFollowing abdominal surgery Sammi Hassan was hit by a sharp stabbing sensation. Initially, it was dismissed as possible period pain…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"...](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/25\/11\/107257281-15660717-_but_after_going_to_hospital_doctors_noticed_her_heart_was_racin-m-40_1774438807928.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n… but, after going to hospital, doctors noticed her heart was racing and her blood pressure was plummeting and correctly suspected she had sepsis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018My hands and lips turned blue and became ice-cold to touch,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018I was becoming delirious and my heart was racing. I honestly felt doomed. I felt like I was dying.\u2019<\/p>\n
Sammi\u2019s mum rang for an ambulance but with no sign of the ambulance 40 minutes after the 999 call, her desperately worried parents drove her to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow.<\/p>\n
Luckily for her, the doctors noticed her heart was racing and her blood pressure was plummeting and correctly suspected she had sepsis\u00a0\u2013 a potentially deadly reaction to an infection which can shut down vital organs within hours.<\/p>\n
She was put on IV-drip antibiotics while doctors ran checks to confirm their suspicions. Her parents were later told she\u2019d been just an hour away from death.<\/p>\n
\u2018Sepsis occurs when infections turn bad,\u2019 explains Dr Andrew Conway Morris, a consultant in intensive care and clinical academic at the University of Cambridge, and medical director of the charity Sepsis Research FEAT.<\/p>\n
\u2018Any infection\u00a0\u2013 bacterial, viral or fungal\u00a0\u2013 can trigger it,\u2018 he says.<\/p>\n
Instead of just fighting the bug, the immune system starts damaging the body\u2019s own tissues, leading to widespread inflammation and potential damage to crucial organs such as the lungs, kidneys, liver and brain.<\/p>\n
In Sammi\u2019s case the trigger was an infection following the surgery she had to remove the endometrial tissue that had caused her such agony for years and was wrapped around her pelvic organs, bladder and bowel.<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/25\/11\/107257283-15660717-image-m-36_1774438231347.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIn Sammi\u2019s case the trigger for sepsis was an infection following the surgery she had to remove the endometrial tissue that had caused her agony for years<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Some](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/25\/11\/107257279-15660717-image-a-38_1774438340410.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSome will get a sepsis infection and be fine, says Dr Andrew Conway Morris, but others can become critically ill<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The sad irony was the sepsis led to the worst pain of her life.<\/p>\n
Sepsis is one of the UK\u2019s biggest killers, claiming an estimated 50,000 lives every year\u00a0\u2013 more than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined.<\/p>\n
Nobody knows why some people get sepsis, while others don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u2018Some people will get an infection and be absolutely fine,\u2019 says Dr Conway Morris. \u2018Another person, who is in similar health and has the same infection, becomes critically ill.\u2019<\/p>\n
Those most at risk include infants and the elderly, but \u2018anyone can be affected by sepsis\u00a0\u2013 even the very healthy’ Dr Conway Morris adds.<\/p>\n
Sammi was otherwise fit and well, but \u2018sepsis hit me like a deer in headlights\u2019, she says.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d been keen to have surgery after developing what is known as scar endometriosis, which occurs when cells from the womb lining are accidentally transferred to the abdominal wall during surgery\u00a0\u2013 in her case the caesarean birth of her first daughter in 2022.<\/p>\n
The endometriosis tissue that then developed on her abdominal wall was removed during the birth of her second daughter, but the monthly agony returned\u00a0\u2013 which is why she underwent surgery to remove the tissue once more in September last year.<\/p>\n
What no one noticed at the time was that her bowel was perforated during the operation and her abdomen was flooded with waste, causing the infection that developed into sepsis.<\/p>\n
In fact, the surgery was judged to be a success and Sammi was discharged from hospital the following day. Within 48 hours the intense pain started spreading across her abdomen.<\/p>\n
Dr Conway Morris says pain can be a feature of sepsis, especially following surgery.<\/p>\n
\u2018If it doesn\u2019t respond to simple painkillers or seems to be disproportionate to the surgery that has been undertaken, it may be a sign of sepsis,\u2019 he explains.<\/p>\n
![\"Critically](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/25\/11\/107257303-15660717-image-m-39_1774438578984.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCritically ill, Sammi was placed in an induced coma… her loved ones were unsure whether she would make it<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Abdominal infections, such as those from bowel perforations after surgery, are a major cause of sepsis.<\/p>\n
\u2018Bowel surgery always carries a risk of leakage of bowel contents with lots of bacteria in it,\u2019 says Dr Conway Morris.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why, he says, patients having bowel surgery \u2018should be made aware of the symptoms of potential complications\u2019, such as sepsis.<\/p>\n
Once sepsis takes hold, it can progress with terrifying speed.<\/p>\n
\u2018Your time for seeking medical advice is short\u00a0\u2013 a matter of hours,\u2019 says Dr Conway Morris. \u2018Six to 12 hours can be the difference between life and death.\u2019<\/p>\n
The danger is that early symptoms look vague or flu-like, and there is no single test that can definitively diagnose sepsis. Doctors must rely on clinical judgment, piecing together symptoms and blood results.<\/p>\n
Signs they watch for include having a very high or very low temperature, confusion, extreme weakness, fast breathing or rapid heart rate, producing little or no urine, feeling cold, having mottled or blue hands and feet, and a rash that doesn\u2019t fade when pressed.<\/p>\n
\u2018Patients will sometimes say, \u201cI feel like I\u2019m going to die,\u201d\u2019 says Dr Conway Morris. \u2018That sense of impending doom is real and points to sepsis.\u2019<\/p>\n
Sammi is grateful her parents decided to get her to hospital so quickly.<\/p>\n
\u2018If I\u2019d waited for the ambulance we\u2019d called I probably wouldn\u2019t be here now,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n
At hospital Sammi underwent emergency surgery to repair her bowel and clear the infection.<\/p>\n
\u2018If there\u2019s pus, or a hole in the bowel, it will keep leaking,\u2019 explains Dr Conway Morris. \u2018If you don\u2019t control the source, you won\u2019t control the sepsis.\u2019<\/p>\n
It happened so quickly she says that \u2018by the time the ambulance\u00a0\u2013 which nobody had remembered to cancel\u00a0\u2013 arrived at my house, I was already being wheeled into surgery.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, during the operation she went into septic shock\u00a0\u2013 where blood pressure drops so low that not enough blood reaches major organs, which can result in multi-organ failure and death.<\/p>\n
Critically ill, Sammi was placed in an induced coma and transferred to intensive care.<\/p>\n
Over the next three weeks she required more surgery and she was put on the highest strength IV antibiotics available.<\/p>\n
Her loved ones were unsure whether she would make it.<\/p>\n
\u2018My husband couldn\u2019t always be with me because he was trying to take care of our girls, and all he could think about was, \u201cHow am I going to tell the girls in the morning that their mum\u2019s no longer here?,\u201d\u2019 says Sammi.<\/p>\n
At one point the doctors were unsure she would make it \u2018and they got my husband and parents to come to the hospital immediately\u00a0\u2013 I guess to say goodbye\u2019, she recalls.<\/p>\n
Sammi emerged from her coma the next day and spent ten days in intensive care, becoming panicked and confused as she regained awareness.<\/p>\n
She was discharged after three weeks, but as is the case for half of those who survive sepsis, Sammi has been left with post-sepsis syndrome\u00a0\u2013 new or worsening symptoms following the initial illness.<\/p>\n
Symptoms can include crushing fatigue, breathlessness, muscle and joint pain, poor sleep, memory problems, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n
Patients, like Sammi, who spent time in intensive care are particularly affected\u00a0\u2013 yet follow-up care is often patchy.<\/p>\n
\u2018We spend enormous resources saving people in ICU,\u2019 says Dr Conway Morris. \u2018Then we let them out, and the support just isn\u2019t there.\u2019<\/p>\n
Six months on, Sammi says: \u2018I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be the same person ever again. It\u2019s changed my life for ever.\u2019<\/p>\n
She is still undergoing physiotherapy to make up for the muscle loss that occurred during her weeks spent immobile in a hospital bed.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve had therapy to help me breathe normally again and I also have weekly mental health therapy for my PTSD, panic attacks and anxiety. I also have terrible short-term memory loss.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve made good progress but I\u2019m still struggling, and I don\u2019t know when\u00a0\u2013 or if\u00a0\u2013 I\u2019ll be able to go back to work.\u2019<\/p>\n
The worst impact has been on her relationship with her children.<\/p>\n
\u2018My eldest daughter had started school just two weeks before my sepsis happened,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018At the time she really needed me. She remembers me crying out in pain and she overheard people saying I could die.<\/p>\n
\u2018But my relationship with my youngest daughter has suffered most, and it\u2019s heartbreaking. She turned two the week I came out of hospital and I simply wasn\u2019t able to care for her\u00a0\u2013 I couldn\u2019t pick her up or even cuddle her.<\/p>\n
\u2018As a result, probably as a protection mechanism, she rejects me now. She doesn\u2019t want me to do anything for her and she has a meltdown when her daddy leaves. That\u2019s been particularly painful and I hope it improves.\u2019<\/p>\n
She says she wants to warn others of the symptoms of sepsis, so other families don\u2019t suffer as hers has.<\/p>\n
\u2018Sepsis doesn\u2019t discriminate. Always ask the question\u00a0\u2013 could it be sepsis? If it\u2019s caught early, the possibility of a good outcome is so much higher.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hours after being discharged from hospital following abdominal surgery, Sammi Hassan was hit by a sharp stabbing sensation that left her \u2018howling\u2019 in pain. \u2018It felt like something terrible was happening inside me,\u2019 says Sammi, 33, a mother of two who works in banking. She was used to severe pain. Every month she ended<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[987],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthy-living"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6948,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6935\/revisions\/6948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}