Alexandra Plank, 41, was home caring for her youngest daughter in Sheffield, England, in May 2023 when she began feeling sick.
At first, she assumed she had picked up a bad cold.
But when her husband came home, he immediately realized something was seriously wrong.
Plank’s lips had turned blue, her fingertips looked gray and she was struggling with painful breathing, according to Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Her husband called the U.K.’s non-emergency medical line, and an ambulance crew was sent to the house.
Paramedics quickly suspected sepsis and rushed her to the hospital.
The situation deteriorated almost immediately.
Doctors warned Plank’s husband that she might not survive, and moments later, she went into cardiac arrest.
Medical staff performed CPR for about three minutes before they were able to restart her heart.
Plank remembers very little about what happened next.
She recalled having a chest X-ray, then waking up in intensive care roughly two weeks later and learning just how close she had come to dying.
By then, the lack of blood flow to parts of her body had caused devastating damage.
She said the tissue in her right foot and ankle, the toes on her left foot and fingers on both hands had begun to die.
Plank spent six weeks in critical care and another six weeks in an infectious-disease unit before finally leaving the hospital at the end of July 2023.
She later underwent surgery to amputate her right leg below the knee, the toes on her left foot and most of her fingers.
She also lives with reduced lung and kidney function following the illness.
Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection and can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death, according to the CDC. Infections that trigger sepsis commonly begin in the lungs, urinary tract, skin or gastrointestinal system.
In Plank’s case, the illness was linked to pneumonia.
Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs and can sometimes trigger sepsis or septic shock, although most people who develop pneumonia do not go on to develop sepsis.
The warning signs can sometimes resemble other illnesses. The CDC lists symptoms including shortness of breath, confusion, extreme pain or discomfort, fever or chills, clammy skin and a fast heart rate or weak pulse.
Plank’s blue lips and gray fingertips were especially alarming signs that her body was not getting enough oxygen.
For a time, she wondered whether she would ever be able to live independently again.
But over the next several years, she slowly rebuilt her strength through physical therapy and training.
Then came a milestone she once could barely have imagined.
In September 2025, Plank completed a 10K race — about 6.2 miles — using her prosthetic leg.
She has also changed careers and now works as a teacher’s aide at her daughter’s school.
Plank admits there are still moments when she feels angry or sad about everything the illness took from her.
But she says surviving has also changed the way she looks at everyday life.
Simply being able to get up, go to work and spend time with her family now feels enormous.
“I feel I’ve done more and achieved more since my illness than I did previously,” she said.
Her story also carries a warning.
Sepsis can progress frighteningly fast, and the CDC urges people to seek immediate medical attention when an infection is getting worse or symptoms suggest sepsis.
