Ilse

I live on the edge of a nature reserve with my husband and three sons. My hobbies are walking, running and good food. My story began with a tumour in my right breast. Four days after my first chemo, I stumbled into A&E with severe abdominal pain. I was immediately operated on. 'The inhuman pain the day after surgery was normal,' the doctor said, 'within a week you will be home'. The seven foreseen days turned into four hundred and eighty-seven.

I ended up in septic shock, was flown in extremely critical condition to UZ Gent university hospital, where I awoke weeks later with terrible pain in my feet. Then began a calvary journey about which I wrote a book entitled 'every hour counts'. I wanted to tell what crushing impact sepsis can have and it also became a quest around this condition I had never heard about before. Professor Erika Vlieghe says my book offers much-needed insights into what sepsis does to a person and their environment. Sepsis survivors let me know that they recognised themselves in different facets of my story. Above all, I hope that after reading it, everyone is convinced that we need to join hands to overcome sepsis together.

Every hour counts - Standard PublishingStandard Publishing