Fancy dress for NESA launch
It’s fitting that the Sepsis Warriors will launch their not-for-profit organisation North East Sepsis Awareness (NESA) with a fancy dress party.
The three women, which later became four, initially launched their awareness campaign after winning best float at the St Patrick’s Day parade in Bailieborough this year.
The float comprised children and adults from all walks of life - some dressed as babies, gym goers and body builders, nurses, doctors, farmers, nuns, to show that anybody at any stage in life can get sepsis.
While Hannah Tormey, Sinead O’Reilly, Cathriona Cahill-Flanagan and Johanne Stafford are continuing as ‘The Sepsis Warriors’, they formed NESA to reach a wider audience.
“We want to be taken seriously,” Nurse Sinead tells the Celt.
“If we can get our locality, if we can get Cavan, Monaghan and Meath we’d be flying,” she says.
The group have met with community groups across the county to spread awareness on the life-threatening condition. Most recently they attended Virginia and Mullagh shows, where they heard many “sad” stories.
“We are just all about awareness and prevention so our biggest aim is to get around all the local clubs, men’s and hen’s sheds and schools to catch as many people as we can to make them aware of the signs and symptoms,” Sinead says.
“People are not detecting it in time and then when they are detecting it, they’re not treated in time.”
Each member has been personally affected by the illness having lost family members and supporting loved ones who continue to live with post-sepsis syndrome, which is something they would like to see more supports for.
As they continue to campaign to put sepsis on the agenda when Ireland assumes the EU presidency on July 1 2026, they hope that this will establish a standard method of recording sepsis cases and making data more accurate.
“We just want to get it standardised so that every country is doing the same thing in the same way and then it’s comparable and we can start collecting our data so we can see how big the problem is. We don’t really know,” Sinead claims, adding that there is “probably a lot more [cases], we’re just not catching them.
“If we standardised how we are collecting our data, we would have a better picture of how big the problem is.”
New guidelines
New HSE guidelines released last week will see hospitals change their response to suspected sepsis cases, one of which is they will now take two sets of blood cultures instead of one.
The warriors were invited to the launch of a study ‘Patient and Healthcare Staff Stories of Sepsis, Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance’ last week, where Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill was in attendance and spoke with the women on their work. During a presentation given on the day, Post-Sepsis Syndrome (PSS) was defined as “physical and/or psychological long-term effects that impact up to 50% of sepsis survivors”.
Symptoms may include difficulty sleeping or staying asleep, fatigue or lethargy, repeat infections, poor appetite, hair loss, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, reduced organ function, skin rash, swelling of the limbs or disabling muscle or joint pain.
The group is also calling for a dedicated post sepsis clinic to support those living with the after effects of sepsis.
Hannah believes there should be “something in place when they [patients] leave”.
“A support system, follow ups, and what else to look out for if they’re not well afterwards,” Hannah lists.
“When you’re leaving, you should be educated. You should know what you had, you know what you might have again and you know how to deal with it.
“I think once a month there needs to be something in every hospital where people who’ve had it can go in if they want.”
“We would love to see that in place, post-sepsis clinics,” Cathriona adds. It was at this meeting that the Minister MacNeill agreed to meet with the group.
“We’ll be looking for post-sepsis syndrome clinics, somewhere for people to follow up and we’re still petitioning to have PSS as a recognised condition with the WHO [World Health Organisation],” Sinead says.
The Sepsis Warriors thanked everybody who has helped them on their journey so far.
The NESA launch will take place on October 25 at 9pm with a fancy dress party at Daly’s in Bailieborough.
There will be a costume contest on the night with cash prizes, live music followed by a DJ and spot prizes on the night.
They are also looking for sponsors for the night.
You can contact NESA by phone on 0894046874 or via their social media pages.
Know the signs and symptoms of sepsis
- Slurred speech, new confusion, too sick to communicate, drowsiness.
- Extreme shivering, muscle aches, fever.
- Passing no urine in the last 12 hours and does not feel like passing urine.
- Shortness of breath, lips tinged with blue, feels like your heart is racing, dizzy when you sit or stand.
- I feel like I’m going to die.
- Skin mottled and discoloured, new rash that is still visible when pressed on with a clear glass (glass test).
If you have any of the symptoms above, seek urgent medical attention.