Love Island star Laura Crane has opened up about her sepsis battle, revealing her mum saved her life by taking her to A&E. The 23-year-old spent ten days in hospital as she contracted the deadly infection, and revealed the cause in an interview with Lorraine Kelly on Wednesday morning.
"I didn't realise how ill I was… I had this crazy high temperature and my heart literally felt like it was coming out through my shirt," Laura explained. "My mum was luckily coming to London to visit me - because she thought I wasn't really replying to her texts - so she was coming up… and if she hadn't have come, I wouldn't have gone to hospital that day."
© Photo: RexLaura Crane opened up to Lorraine Kelly about her sepsis battle
Laura added that her illness began with what "felt like bad period pains" before she became "delirious" as the infection got worse. Revealing the most worrying moment, Laura admitted: "The first five days I was in hospital they were trying to figure out where the infection was. I actually started to get worse and my temperature would go really high and then really low… and my heart rate couldn’t really stabilise. That's when it got really scary when I thought I'm completely out of control of my body."
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Doctors eventually discovered what caused her to develop sepsis. "In the end it was actually [down to] a cyst on my ovary and one of them became infected and became an abscess and they had to drain it. It was an ordeal!" Laura told Lorraine.
© Photo: InstagramLaura was hospitalised for ten days
The Love Island contestant was inundated with support after it was revealed she had been hospitalised at the beginning of November. Laura has vowed to "be back stronger than ever" after her illness, and tried to raise awareness of the condition on social media.
MORE: The sepsis signs and symptoms to look out for
Sepsis is a potentially lethal blood poisoning, which leads to around 40,000 deaths a year in the UK according to the UK Sepsis Trust. Symptoms can include a high temperature or low body temperature, chills and shivering, a fast heartbeat and fast breathing. When sepsis is detected early and hasn't affected any vital organs it may be possible to treat at home with antibiotics. Those with severe sepsis and septic shock will typically require admission to hospital and some may be treated in an intensive care unit.
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