'I was given a choice - keep my legs or keep my life' - the sepsis patient who lived

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. 'I was given a choice - keep my legs or keep my life' - the sepsis patient who lived1 hour ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleLouise CullenAgriculture and environment correspondent, News NIBBCMarshall lost fingers and part of his legs but is keen to spread awarenessFarmer Marshall Wylie thought nothing of it when he cut his arm, sorting wood in August 2023. And he thought even less of it when he felt ill over the next 48 hours. But the following week, he said he clinically died due to sepsis.

He can remember a bright light and his mother telling him he was "going to be okay" and well as seeing his old dogs. Warning: This article contains some graphic images of hands and feet with sepsis. The doctor branded the County Tyrone man a "complete and utter miracle".

The Details

Marshall told NI he had "never, ever heard of sepsis", but it left him with a choice: keeping his legs, or his life. Now, he is supporting an awareness campaign aimed at his fellow farmers, being launched at the Balmoral Show by the NI Agri-Rural Health Forum and the Farm Safety Partnership. Cut was 'last thing I thought about'What seemed like a minor injury sustained sorting wood led Marshall Wylie to the brink of life and deathLike many farmers, Marshall had other jobs that helped pay the bills.

And in August 2023, at one of them, he cut his arm while moving dumped wood. He thoroughly washed the "wee scratch", put plenty of iodine on it and covered it with a dressing. "And I never thought anything more of it.

"The next day, as part of his agricultural contracting work, he gathered 500 bales of silage for two neighbours. Warning: This article contains extremely graphic images of the effects of sepsis which some readers may find distressing. 'My mother and my old dogs were there' By that evening, he began to feel that something was "brewing".

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"And being a typical farmer, you know, it's a flu, heck, well, nothing to worry about. "But he was in the early stages of sepsis, something he had never heard of or thought about. "The amount of times you get a cut when you're in the farming business - I've opened myself and the blood ran out of me and you never think about it.

"However as a nurse, his wife Karen suspected sepsis as soon as she saw him. But that was days later - she had been staying in Belfast on overnight shifts and Marshall had not mentioned the cut or feeling unwell. She called an ambulance.

At 5:25 on the Friday after he was admitted to hospital, Marshall was declared clinically dead. But he came back - with an incredible memory of his mother, who died in 2017. "I can remember this lovely bright light.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.