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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
Health
Holly Lennon

BBC Scotland presenter in terrifying sepsis diagnosis a month after doing awareness interview

A BBC Scotland presenter was diagnosed with deadly sepsis just weeks after interviewing a woman who nearly died from the same illness.

Sarah McMullan spent six days in hospital as doctors battled to get to grips with the infection after initially arriving in A&E with a suspected kidney infection.

The 30-year-old presenter recalled feeling "really cold" during a morning shift but waited more than 36 hours to phone NHS 24. Sarah was later told by medics that she was very lucky to be admitted when she did, reports BBC Scotland.

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The broadcaster's illness in early October came just a month after she carried out an interview for Sepsis Awareness Month for BBC Scotland's The Nine.

Kimberley Bradley has previously told the programme how she ended up in an induced coma for eight days after she contracted meningococcal septicaemia which had developed into sepsis.

Also known as blood poisoning, it is a rare but serious complication of an infection.

Sarah said: "She spoke through all of the symptoms and what to look out for and what to remember and when to get help and I did not remember them well enough."

A few weeks later the journalist was in the BBC Scotland studio at Pacific Quay for a morning bulletin shift when she started to feel cold and had goosebumps.

At the time Sarah thought it might have been down to the fact that she had not had any breakfast or that she could come down with a cold or flu.

Sarah went to bed after work but when she woke up that afternoon she started to experience similar symptoms. But although she started to feel unwell on a Wednesday morning she did not call NHS 24 until the early hours of Friday.

Shortly after arriving in A&E with a suspected kidney infection - which was later confirmed - Sarah was admitted as a category two patient.

She said: "Category one is life threatening so I was very unwell. My temperature was spiking really quite quickly. It would go from about 37 to 40 within about 15 minutes.

"It was 40, on and off, for about two days."

Sarah initially spent five hours in A&E before she was moved to a ward. Doctors told her she was fortunate that she attended on a quiet night when there were only 12 patients compared with 56 the previous day.

She said: "Had I had a longer time to wait I cannot imagine how much more unwell I would have felt."

In total, she spent six days in hospital but is aware that she raised the alarm with very little time to spare.

Now back at work, Sarah admitted: "It could have been a lot worse. That's what I was told on several occasions.

"The doctors kept saying to me 'You have been very lucky here'."

Asked if she had a message based on her experience, Sarah told Drivetime: "If you suffer any of these symptoms, like the spike in temperature or the uncontrolled shivering, just make the phone call and get help.

"It really is the difference between it being life or death in some instances."

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