Sadie Kemp: Sepsis survivor and amputee mum holding fundraiser for critical care ward that ‘saved her life’

A Cambridgeshire mum-of-two, who was left with life-changing injuries after surviving sepsis, is hosting a ‘family fun day’ fundraiser this weekend to raise money for the critical care ward at Peterborough City Hospital.

Sadie Kemp, 34, from Sawtry, had the fingers on both of her hands amputated after being placed into an induced coma for 11 days when she entered septic shock while doctors removed a kidney stone from her body on Boxing Day last year.

Later this month, she is having an operation to amputate both of her legs below the knee.

‘Forever indebted to them’

She is now raising money for the critical care ward at Peterborough Hospital, which she says “saved my life”.

“I want to give something back because they’ve [NHS staff at the ward] given me life – I’m forever indebted to them,” she said.

"I didn’t think I would ever get the chance to do something like this. They are my safety net and they mean the world to me.

"They’re like my family – they looked after me and my family so well.”

Sadie, a mum of two boys, aged two and 16, was discharged from Peterborough City Hospital in April and returned to her parent’s home in Sawtry to continue her recovery.

"I’ve been told that my chances of survival were slim,” she said. “My family got a phone call to say ‘be prepared for a call as we don’t think she’s going to survive the next 12 hours’.

"The fact that the staff at the hospital didn’t give up on me and still cared for me in the way that they did to keep me here now meant everything.

"My life has completely changed but I’m still able to watch my children grow up.”

The fundraiser is being held at the Greystones pub in Sawtry this Saturday (July 9), from 12pm to 8pm.

There will be a live DJ in the garden and an outside bar, including family fundraising activities including a tombola, raffle, face painting, a ‘selfie wall’ and a chance to win a holiday to Cornwall.

"I just want to get everyone together to sit in the sun and have fun,” Sadie said.

"Every penny will be going to critical care and I’m going to leave it up to them what they want to spend the money on. It could go towards life saving equipment or overnight beds for relatives to stay.

"When I was in intensive care we still had Covid restrictions so I wasn’t allowed to have people stay overnight, but now those restrictions have been lifted they could have overnight beds for relatives.”

Sadie has received over 1,600 donations – amounting to over £45,000 – on her personal fundraiser online.

Her GoFundMe donations page hopes to raise enough money for an operation for bionic prosthetic fingers to be added to each of her hands - which will cost £35,000-per-hand.

Sadie has shared her story to over half a million followers on TikTok. You can follow her journey @sadiessepsisjourney