'Miracle' recovery from sepsis caused by a roast

8 hours ago

Cash MurphySouth East

News image — Amin has expressed gratitude for the "exceptional care, compassion and dedication" shown by the medical teams who cared for him

Family Handout/PA Wire Udhyam Amin with his wife Bhavini. Udhyam is wearing a white shirt and holding a glass of bubbly. Bhavini is also holding an alcoholic drink and is wearing a pink top. She has her hand on his shoulder. Both look happy and are smiling to camera. — Amin has expressed gratitude for the "exceptional care, compassion and dedication" shown by the medical teams who cared for him

A man who was given just hours to live after a pub roast dinner led to him developing sepsis said he has been given a "second chance" at life.

Udhyam Amin, from Kingswood, Surrey, spent more than two weeks in an induced coma in February after what he thought was food poisoning turned out to be sepsis.

Ahead of World Sepsis Day on Sunday, the 64-year-old, now back at work, feels indebted to the medical team at St Helier Hospital in south London.

"Words cannot express my gratitude for the exceptional care, compassion and dedication the medical teams showed me during the most difficult time of my life," he said.

Family Handout/PA Wire Udhyam Amin during his hospital stay. He is wearing an oxygen mask and has various wires attached to his body. He is in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown. — The 64-year-old, from Kingswood, went to A&E with suspected food poisoning in February after having a roast chicken dinner in a pub

Amin went to A&E with suspected food poisoning in February and was told that he was infected with the bacteria campylobacter, the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK.

It causes sickness, diarrhoea and fever, and symptoms begin within a few hours or days of eating infected food.

It usually improves when patients rest and replace fluids, but can lead to sepsis in rare cases.

Amin was soon rushed to the resuscitation room where his blood pH fell dangerously low and he suffered a cardiac arrest.

Medics warned Amin's family, including daughter Parisha Bains, that he had developed sepsis and may only have hours to live.

She said: "We were told he had gone into sepsis and multi-organ failure. Most of his critical organs had shut down. But he made it through the night and that wasn't expected.

"It felt like our world had fallen apart. Nothing prepares you for hearing that the person you love may not make it through the day."

Bains said it is "nothing short of a miracle" that the former subpostmaster turned businessman is still alive.

"We laugh and joke that he's like a cat with nine lives," she remarked.

A fundraiser for Epsom and St Helier Hospitals Charity created by the family for the intensive care unit has raised £37,000 so far.

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