Swansea mum raises thousands for Morriston Hospital after they saved her life from sepsis
ITV Wales' Issa Farfour reports
It was all happy and exciting for Natasha and her family after returning home withtheir new born … Phoebe but 12 hours later everything changed.
40 days of Intensive care, 18 days on life support and 3 surgeries- Natasha Grove gave birth to her second child, Phoebe, at Singleton’s maternity unit in January.
Immediately after returning to her home in Swansea she started experiencing pain and difficulty walking.
She returned to the unit less than 12 hours later before being moved to Morriston Hospital to receive emergency treatment for Strep A infection, which led to septic shock.“It was all a bit of a blur," she said.
"After going back into hospital and I remember having funny dreams on the ventilator then waking up in ITU and I knew I'd had a baby, and I think that sort of 12 hours that I had with her at the start had kind of helped me to remember her”
“It was established that I had a severe infection, which had led to sepsis, which thendeveloped into septic shock, I believe”.
Recovery for Natasha was the hardest part of all emotionally and physically.
She suffered multiple organ failure, septic arthritis in her right knee and left wrist andpneumonia as a result of the infection, undergoing three operations during 40 daysspent in hospital.
Natasha continued to struggle with mobility after being discharged and is still awaiting full function of her left hand and wrist to return.
It is hoped that this will return with help from ongoing physiotherapy.
8 months ago she was barely able to walk.
Now she has completed an 8 mile mountain walk across a forestry trail in the OgmoreValley.
She joined the walk with her husband Andrew and friends, to say thank you.
It was her walk that raised thousands of pounds for the Intensive Care Unit at Morriston, which helped save her life.
“There is no doubt that the care I received during my time at ITU saved my life.
"We could not be more grateful to all of the staff at ITU and we are in complete awe ofthe fantastic work that they do each day”.
Natasha wanted to share her story to raise awareness.
“Infection can develop to sepsis so quickly and I think it’s really important for everyone to be aware of the symptoms and to get checked out as soon as possible if they think they have got because it can be life threatening”
Now Natasha has a new lease of life and a new baby girl, she is returning to herdaily routine as a mother of two with help from ongoing physiotherapy.
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