Student's sepsis scare after night out highlights need for symptom awareness

When Elle Black woke up the morning after a night out in February 2024, she felt dreadful.

The 21-year-old, who was in her first year at Cardiff University, believed her sore throat and flu-like symptoms were a hangover and initially "brushed it off".

But the following day she was being treated in hospital for sepsis, external, a serious reaction to an infection which can be life-threatening. Doctors told her if she had waited another day things could have been "quite different".

Elle is now urging other young people to be aware of the symptoms of sepsis, while the charity Sepsis Research said it was important to never dismiss symptoms that are severe or getting worse.

"I got home in the early hours of the morning and the back of my throat started to hurt, which I thought was strange because I didn't have any other symptoms yet," recalled Elle, who graduated this summer with a degree in journalism, media and culture.

"I took some ibuprofen, shrugged it off, went to sleep. I woke up the next day absolutely exhausted, no energy, really high fever."

Elle, who is originally from Warwickshire, went to get brunch with her parents as planned, but "alarm bells were ringing" because her tonsils were swollen and she was unable to eat, so she booked a private GP appointment for later that day.

The doctor diagnosed her with laryngitis, external and prescribed antibiotics.

"I was so drowsy, so confused, almost delirious," she recalled.

She said she did not remember much about the following day, but has been told she called her mum and said "I can't feel my legs".

"I got to hospital, triaged within 15 minutes, it was all amazingly quick."

Elle had developed quinsy, external - a complication of tonsillitis where a pus-filled abscess grows between your tonsils and the wall of your throat - which turned into sepsis, external.

She spent two days at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) but went on to "make a full recovery", which she credits to attending hospital quickly, telling staff she believed she had sepsis, and a fast-acting medical team.

"[The doctors] said if I'd left it another day, it could have been quite different," said Elle.

"You don't really hear about sepsis in this context," she added.

"It was strange for my parents to hear this had happened to their daughter. My mum says it's the scariest thing she's ever gone through.

"They didn't expect me to look so dreadful, they'd never seen my like that. I was completely pale, clammy. They are quite traumatised by it."

She added: "I was exhausted for a couple of weeks after and I was a little bit out for it for a couple of months, just really tired, it does take it out of you. But, other than that, I'm OK.

"They acted quickly and I got to the hospital quickly, but it's so different for everyone."

In the UK, there are 48,000 sepsis related deaths each year, according to the UK Sepsis Trust., external

The charity Sepsis Research said the condition "rarely announces itself clearly".

"It often develops from infections that seem familiar and manageable, which is why it can be so easily overlooked," it added.

"Drowsiness, nausea, exhaustion and feeling generally dreadful after a night out are symptoms many students might put down to alcohol, lack of sleep or freshers' flu.

"Elle's experience shows why it is so important not to dismiss symptoms that are severe, getting worse, or feel out of proportion to what you would normally expect."

Elle will be running the London Marathon for the charity Sepsis Research next year, and is urging anyone who thinks a hangover might be something more to seek medical advice.

"With something as dangerous as sepsis, there's not too many stories where it's OK and it all works out. It's just so scary how fast it is.

"It really does put things into perspective. It's not always a hangover, sometimes it's something worse."