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When Nikita Harden, 33, went bowling, she hoped for a fun date night with her boyfriend \u2013 but she ended up fighting off a life-threatening infection.<\/p>\n
The young mum-of-two from Norfolk scratched her thumb on the inside of a bowling ball.<\/p>\n
She brushed it off as a minor cut at the time, but later that night began experiencing the symptoms of sepsis.<\/p>\n
It was her boyfriend Jordan that recognised the beginnings of a tracking line on her arm \u2013 a red line that continues to get longer \u2013 a symptom of the condition.<\/p>\n
Nakita, a sales manager said: \u2018I didn\u2019t think anything of it at first. You get scratches all the time.<\/p>\n
\u2018I said to my boyfriend Jordan, \u201cMy thumb doesn\u2019t feel very good\u201d, and he looked at it before asking to see my arm.<\/p>\n
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\u2018He saw little red bits on my arm. It wasn\u2019t obviously a tracking line at that point. We were just a little bit concerned, but I didn\u2019t feel poorly. I was just tired and wanted to go to sleep.<\/p>\n
\u2018He said, \u201cWell, if it gets worse, you\u2019re gonna have to go to the hospital because it could be sepsis\u201d and I was like, \u201cWhat?!\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n
Jordan had read an article online about blood poisoning and checking for tracking lines.<\/p>\n
Dr Ron Daniels, BEMFounder and joint CEO of UK Sepsis Trust tells Metro.co.uk that tracking lines alone aren\u2019t a symptom of sepsis \u2013 but are sign of an infection.<\/p>\n
He explains: \u2018A tracking line that tracks towards the centre of the body from an infected cut, bite or sting is called ascending lymphangitis.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s a red line that follows the course of the lymphatic system upwards towards the centre of the body. You\u2019ll always see them going up towards the heart.<\/p>\n
\u2018They\u2019re a sign there\u2019s an infection and it\u2019s spreading. They are not on their own a sign of sepsis \u2013 they\u2019re the sign of a skin infection which will require antibiotics. You should always seek medical attention the same day.<\/p>\n
\u2018If you\u2019ve been given antibiotics but you\u2019re getting worse, not better, go back to your GP. Just ask, \u201ccould it be sepsis\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n
Ron says there are 245,000 cases of sepsis in the UK each year and 48,000 fatalities as a result \u2013 one in ten of those are caused by skin and soft tissue infections like Nakita\u2019s.<\/p>\n
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Unfortunately for Nakita, after going to bed that night, her condition did worsen, and when she woke up in the early hours of the morning, she was extremely thirsty and so weak that she barely made it downstairs for a drink.<\/p>\n
Nakita added: \u2018I woke up really, really thirsty at some point in the night. I tried to go downstairs, and I could barely get there. But I needed a drink, so I got there, had a drink, and then clawed my way back upstairs.<\/p>\n
\u2018I told Jordan that I didn\u2019t feel right, and he took another look at my arm. He said we needed to go to the hospital right away as there was now a line.\u2019<\/p>\n
As it was the weekend, the emergency room was full of people, and Nakita expected to wait a long time to be seen, but medics also recognised the tell-tale sign of the deadly condition.<\/p>\n
She said: \u2018A&E was full of people who\u2019d injured themselves on nights out, and I thought I might die between now and getting seen, but they called me through quite quickly.<\/p>\n
\u2018I went through to the doctor and explained the situation. He looked at my arm and said, \u201cWe need to get you on some antibiotics intravenously, and you\u2019ll have surgery. We\u2019re going to have to take the infection out of your thumb, and hopefully, we won\u2019t have to amputate.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n
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The doctors rushed to get Nakita into a bed in a bay and administered the first dose of antibiotics. They didn\u2019t want her to move.<\/p>\n
Then they operated on her thumb. She said: \u2018I was awake while they did it. I tried to watch them. I felt them digging around in the bone and felt a bit queasy. I thought I was going to faint.<\/p>\n
\u2018They got as much of the infection out as they could, but they couldn\u2019t stitch it up because of where it was on my knuckle. They just had to let it heal outwards.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve got two kids. They were what was going through my head. I was like, \u201cWhat if I don\u2019t see them again?\u201d They\u2019d been at their dad\u2019s the day I\u2019d gone bowling with my boyfriend.\u2019<\/p>\n
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While Nakita worried that she would no longer have a knuckle after the operation, mercifully, the part of her hand that was removed with the infection did grow back, and she made a full recovery.<\/p>\n
She said: \u2018I had to go back to the hand clinic for re-dressings and things. I had to keep it super sterile and then it healed. I did feel quite poorly for a while.\u2019<\/p>\n
The cut from the bowling ball that allegedly led to Nakita\u2019s ordeal last winter was, according to her, no larger than a paper cut.<\/p>\n
Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection. It happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body\u2019s own tissues and organs.<\/p>\n
Tell-tale signs of sepsis in adults include confusion, difficulty breathing, a rash that doesn\u2019t go away when pressed, and pale or discoloured skin, lips, or tongue and, of course, tracking lines.<\/p>\n
Sepsis needs treatment in hospital straight away because it can get worse quickly. You should get antibiotics within 1 hour of arriving at hospital.<\/p>\n
If sepsis is not treated early, it can turn into septic shock and cause your organs to fail. This is life threatening.<\/p>\n
You may need other tests or treatments depending on your symptoms, including:<\/p>\n