In 2023, I was seriously ill with sepsis following a bowel perforation. I was fortunately treated in a way that clearly followed the recommended suspected sepsis protocol, and so although my full recovery took several months, I am mostly back to normal these days! Not everyone is so lucky. 44,000 people die annually in the UK from sepsis - more than breast and bowel cancer combined. Early detection of sepsis might save 15,000 lives each year, according to work by the Sepsis Trust.

This year the Trust's campaign is about steps. I actually walk quite a lot and so I've decided to do a different kind of challenge, one which is also pushing me a bit and which I hope will make my academic friends smile wryly (and maybe throw in a quid or two!). I have a LOT of upcoming deadlines and I want to meet them, so perhaps a bit of peer pressure from you all will help. By the end of July, I am pledging that I will have:

- Submitted the MS of the book I'm editing

- Revised the conference paper I'm about to deliver into an article for submission to a journal special issue

- Done and returned revisions on an article that's been accepted subject to corrections

These things are happening while I have conferences and a summer school to prep for, so I know from past experience I might let my personal research slide into the background. Not this year!! Let's raise money, save some lives, and make me achieve some stuff (lol)!

This is just after I got out of hospital - so imagine how bad I looked when I was in there with a tube draining my stomach and two different IV antibiotics plus a saline drip!!