Lauren Menzies death: Grieving mom Sarah Menzies raises funds for research after girl, 13, dies of sepsis
ENGLAND: The abrupt death of a "fit and healthy" 13-year-old girl rocked a family, who thought she was just sick with the flu. In honor of Lauren Menzies, a "typical cheeky teenager" who sadly ended up in intensive care due to sepsis, her parents are now trying to raise money for research.
According to her mom, Sarah Menzies, one minute, Lauren was on the couch "watching Modern Family and complaining about the flavour of Lucozade she had been bought," and then "less than 12 hours later she was fighting for her life.. a fight that unfortunately she was to lose, less than six days later."
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'This wasn't supposed to happen'
As per Yahoo News, the blogger from England claimed that although her daughter didn't feel completely well on December 4, 2019, she was "well enough" to go to school the next day. She had the "standard cold/flu symptoms," the blogger said. But by Friday night, after Lauren had spent the day feeling ill from what was initially believed to be a stomach virus, things had gotten much worse.
"I was concerned about a couple of her symptoms, rapid breathing and confusion," Sarah wrote. She then brought her to the emergency room, "fully expecting to be viewed as an overprotective mother. The triage nurse suspected sepsis, she was given fluids and antibiotics and then transferred to the pediatric department at the Alder Hey Children's Hospital. Her mental state seemed to be crashing and she was refusing, or fighting against, the treatment she was being given."
Her family expected her to fully recuperate, so it was decided to sedate her. However, on Tuesday, "everything changed." "It was clear that Lauren had deteriorated in the night," the mum said. "After the finger painting, and the fingerprints, after the singing..we said our final goodbyes (and) we turned Lauren's machines off. It was unexpected, she was fit and healthy... and then she was dead. We are all in shock. This wasn't supposed to happen.We all thought that Lauren would get better. We took her to hospital in good time, she got all the right treatment, she was supposed to be okay."
'5 people in the UK die every hour from Sepsis'
More than three years later, Lauren's family is still coping with her death and fighting to raise money and awareness for the life-threatening illness that claimed her. "Sepsis wrecks so many lives, it creeps in unnoticed and does untold damage from Post Sepsis Syndrome, loss of limbs and death," Sarah said on Facebook this week. "5 people in the UK die every hour from Sepsis." The Australian Sepsis Network reports that studies indicate that sepsis causes an estimated 5,000 deaths and 18,000 admissions to intensive care units each year in Australia.