Leg amputee ex-police officer tells of horrific sepsis ordeal
A former police officer who lost both legs, eight fingers and parts of his nose after contracting sepsis has spoken out about his horrific ordeal.
Dean Smahon was only given a 10% chance of survival by doctors after the blood condition ravaged his body.
The 54-year-old fell ill in October 2010, but his condition was compounded when hospital staff missed opportunities to treat his septicaemia in time.
"The worst thing that I can remember was the pain. I'd never experienced pain like it," Dean told ITV News Calendar.
"Because I came from an athletics background I knew my body and I just knew there was something wrong but yet I couldn't get in my head why it didn't feel like a muscle (injury), I'd never experienced anything like it."
The expectant father has gone public about his ordeal in the hope it might prevent others from suffering as part of Sepsis Awareness Month.
Since his recovery, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has admitted shortcomings in its care of Mr Smahon - who required 30 operations over a two-year period.
The Trust said staff had missed opportunities to treat his infection and his body began shutting down its extremities in a bid to protect his vital organs.
Mr Smahon, who spent three months in hospital, described how he then battled depression as he struggled to adapt to his new life.
"I was active, I liked to keep fit, I had pride in how I looked, I'd met a girl I really liked and all of a sudden I had to cope with losing my legs, hand and bits of my face", he said.
"I'd lost my dignity and self-worth. Kirsty left her teaching job to care for me. It was a very dark period and felt as though life wasn't worth living".
Dean and his wife Kirsty experienced "dark days" during the ordeal, but say their love and faith got them through.
"We just genuinely loved each other and persevered really and kept going," said Kirsty.
"We've also got a strong faith, we're both Christians and I think without that we wouldn't have got through it, I wouldn't have," she added.
In 2015, lawyers secured Mr Smahon an interim payment, which allowed him to buy better prosthetics, an adapted car, rent a bungalow, purchase home gym equipment and obtain rehabilitation therapy.
And having used prosthetics to walk down the aisle and marry 36-year-old Kirsty three years ago, the couple are now expecting their first child in February after IVF treatment.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals has said the Trust is implementing an improvement programme for the treatment and care of people with sepsis.