Strep A awareness

II'm running the Birmingham half marathon in October to raise money for Birmingham Women's Hospital. 

Why? I was very ill after having my son and spent three weeks there on the high decency unit. 

I has a rare form of Strep A. Below is my story. 

If you'd like to sponsor me please visit: 

http://www.justgiving.com/Laura-Bowker

 What is Strep A?

Streptococcus is an infection caused by bacteria, is can range from a throat infection to pneumonia. They then fall into two groups, A & B.

Strep A often found on the surface of the skin and inside the throat and a common cause of infection in adults and children.

After having my son in 2013 I had Strep A. It started when I was on the post natal ward when my feet continued to swell, I was told this was completely normal so ignored it. After a couple of days of being at home I had developed flu like symptoms which my GP provided me antibiotics for. But then a red/purple rash began to appear on my feet and legs. My GP didn't have a clue what was wrong with me and actually said " I don't really know what is wrong, call me tomorrow if you are no better".

My parents then rushed me back in to the womens hospital as they were so worried and they were right to be. The doctors checked my infection level and were shocked with the results, normal range in about 1-15 and mine had hit 600! My body had start to shut down and major organs were starting to fail, my body was going into septic shock.

I won't go into all the details but I ended up spending 3 weeks in intensive care. I missed the first 3 weeks of my sons life, time I will never see again.

I had countless tests and scans and it took doctors about 10 days until they narrowed it down to Strep A. The  infection had settled itself in my womb and the only way to treat it was a full hysterectomy at 23. I was devastated at the time, although now I find myself fortunate as the surgeon only had to remove one ovary in the end.

This could all have been avoided if my GP had noticed my symptoms, but the infection is so rare and so not many health professionals know much about it.

If you'd like to find out more visit http://www.sepsistrust.org