Kane Green
Thomas Tagg and UK Sepsis Trust
Fundraising for UK Sepsis Trust
Story
Last year, a running friend of mine tragically lost his two year old son Thomas to a surprisingly common, yet widely unknown illness, SEPSIS.
As a dad of 3 young children myself, Thomas' heartbreaking story struck a chord being so close to home.
You can read Thomas' story below, in Stuart's words.
I'll be competing in The Great North Run alongside Stuart and others to raise money for UK Sepsis Trust, a small, grass roots charity which aims to save thousands of lives a year through promoting awareness of this little known illness.
I urge any parents of young children to read the information on Sepsis below - what is most worrying is that the symptoms of Sepsis can appear much like the symptoms of other common childhood illnesses, but misdiagnosis can prove deadly, as poor Thomas is testament to.
Please donate as little or as much as you can, be it pounds or pennies and more importantly, read on for Thomas' story and some vital information from UK Sepsis Trust:
http://sepsistrust.org/public/do-i-have-sepsis/
Thomas' Story:
"Thomas was a lively, inquisitive and healthy 2 year old boy who loved life and did everything with either a huge smile or a mischievous grin on his face. Thomas loved his big brother and really enjoyed attending nursery.
Thomas developed chickenpox like most children do and consequently spent a few days poorly on the sofa but seemed to be on the mend. Suddenly Thomas became unresponsive at home on the Tuesday evening on the 23rd June 2015 and quickly went into cardiac arrest. Despite an enormous effort from Thomas’s Auntie, the paramedics and the resus team at Wigan Infirmary Thomas passed away that evening.
Tests have since revealed that Thomas had developed Group A Streptococcal Sepsis . Fighting chicken pox had left Thomas weak and suppressed his immune system, leaving him unable to fight the deadly infection. His little body was just not able to fight anymore. The speed that Thomas was taken from us was absolutely staggering.
We called Thomas " our little sunshine " because of his happy and fun nature , he lit up our lives . We have had a permanent shadow cast over us from the loss of our precious Son, but one positive that will keep us going is that we can work alongside The UK Sepsis Trust to raise funds and awareness to prevent other families from having to suffer like we do on a daily basis.
When we were told that Thomas had Sepsis we had no idea what it was and I suspect that a lot of people affected by it hadn’t heard of it either. "