It's About TIME For Sepsis Awareness
WITH KATY GRAINGER
THIS PODCAST WILL KILL YOU.
“Over the years of the podcast, we have often struggled with questions of why: why pathogens act the way they do, why certain people get sick while others don’t, or why we know little about some diseases. This episode is no exception – sepsis certainly inspires many “whys”. But for perhaps the first time on the pod, we find ourselves grappling not only with “why?” but also with “what?”. What, indeed, is sepsis? Ask a dozen doctors and you may get a dozen different answers. Our first goal for this episode is to sift through the various definitions of sepsis and what we know about its pathology to get a firm handle on this deadly consequence of infection. We then turn our sights to a thrilling period of sepsis history – Joseph Lister and his carbolic acid spray – before attempting to address the status of sepsis around the world today. By the end of the episode, your picture of sepsis may not be crystal clear, but hopefully the edges are a little less blurry.
And helping us to de-blur the edges of sepsis is the wonderful Katy Grainger, leading sepsis and amputee advocate and on the Board of Directors of Sepsis Alliance, who shares with us her harrowing sepsis experience. You can learn more about Katy’s story and advocacy work by following her on instagram (@katysepsisamputee), TikTok (@katysepsisamputee), Facebook, or by checking out http://www.sepsis.org
Surviving Sepsis - Katy's Story I Did Not Sign Up For This
In the fall of 2018, Katy Grainger’s world was turned upside-down when a small infected cut on her thumb caused her body to go into septic shock. Katy spent a week fighting for her life on two separate islands in the state of Hawaii. The sepsis and a secondary condition, called DIC, caused the blood-flow to her hands and feet to be disrupted, resulting in the loss of both of her lower legs and seven partial fingers.
Katy now sits on the Board of Directors of Sepsis Alliance, the largest sepsis organization in the United States, where she shares her story to spread sepsis awareness and lobbies for changes within the healthcare system that impact sepsis. Katy uses her social media platforms to share information about sepsis and disability, while supporting others from both of these communities to ensure them that they are not alone. She has branched into modeling and motivational speaking and she is writing a book about her journey and the many lessons she learned along the way.