TORY MP Craig Mackinlay says he is lucky to be alive after losing both his hands and feet to sepsis.
The South Thanet MP – who now has four prosthetic limbs – recalled how he went “a very strange blue” and placed into an induced coma.
After waking up he found his limbs were completely black “like pharaohs hands that had just been dug up”.
Speaking for the first time since the horror last year, Craig said he plans to return to parliament and be known as the “bionic MP”.
The 57-year-old told the BBC: “They managed to save above the elbows and above the knees.
“So you might say I’m lucky.”
Craig began feeling unwell on September 27 and thought it may be Covid but a test came back negative.
Despite being badly sick overnight he thought nothing until worried pharmacist wife Kati tested his blood pressure and temperature.
SEPSIS is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that happens when your immune system overreacts and starts to damage your body's own tissues and organs.
Symptoms of sepsis in an adult include:
Symptoms in a child include:
They may not have all these symptoms.
If you think you or someone else has symptoms of sepsis, call 999 or go to A&E.
Source: NHS
By the morning Craig’s arms were stone cold and Kati couldn’t feel a pulse – he was rushed to his local hospital in Medway, Kent.
He recalled: “Within about half an hour I went this very, very strange blue… my whole body, top to bottom, ears everything – blue.
“That is a septic shock. It is when you are having a very severe septic event.”
Craig was put into an induced coma for 16 days during which he was transferred to St Thomas’ opposite the Houses of Parliament.
Medics told Kati the MP was “one of the illest people they’d ever seen” and gave him a five percent chance of survival.
She was told to prepare for the worst.
When Craig came around he said his feet and hands were “like plastic”.
“Black, desiccating, clenched. Just dead. Your legs and arms are dead”, he said.
On December 1 Craig had both hands and feet amputated and said he felt “surprisingly stoic” about the life-changing surgery.
As well as losing limbs the sepsis has caused scarring on Craig’s face and gums, leaving his front teeth loose.
He has since had to adapt to his new prosthetics and on February 28 was able to walk his first 20 steps unaided.
The loss of his hands is a “real loss” but he is feeling upbeat about the future and plans to fight his seat – set to be renamed Thanet East – at the next election.
He said: “When children come to Parliament’s fantastic education centre I want them to be pulling their parents’ jacket or skirts or their teacher and saying: ‘I want to see the bionic MP today’.”
Sepsis is life-threatening and happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and damages your body’s tissue and organs.
Around 245,000 people are affected by sepsis in the UK each year, with at least 48,000 dying from related illness.
