- His wife and seven-year-old son were told to say goodbye
A bodybuilder has revealed how he nearly died from sepsis after his ‘shoulder clicked’ and his wife and seven-year-old son were told to say goodbye.
Mark Oakes, 51, who lives in Essex, a former professional bodybuilder and black belt in karate, was cleaning windows at home in the summer of 2022 when he felt his shoulder click.
Just hours later he couldn’t move his arm and went to bed early feeling feverish and shivery.
After a trip to A&E, Mr Oakes was sent home with painkillers to wait for surgery but his condition worsened and after testing his blood oxygen levels, which were far too low, rushed back to hospital.
Doctors put Mr Oakes to sleep in order to drain his shoulder, but while unconscious his liver and kidneys started failing and 15 hours later he awoke in intensive care – where he would spend the next 10 days.
His wife Heather and son Lincoln were told to say their goodbyes.
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While awaiting the surgery, Mr Oakes spent a week on pain medication, becoming constipated and struggling to sleep and breathe properly.
Eventually, he tested the oxygen levels in his blood using Heather’s Apple watch. It was at 68 per cent – much lower than the healthy average of 95-100pc.
Mr Oakes went back to the hospital and was put under general anaesthetic so doctors could drain his shoulder.
But while he was unconscious, his liver and kidneys started failing and his lungs began filling with liquid.
He woke 15 hours later to find a ventilator on his face.
‘I looked like Bane,’ he said.
Over the next ten days, he was in intensive care, and his condition worsened before it got better.
Mr Oakes, a non-smoker and non-drinker, said: ‘Intensive care is a tough place to be as a patient. There is very little that you can do for. yourself – you’re bedbound, you have got all this medication.
‘There are alarms going off all the time because everyone else there is really poorly. You get disturbed quite often by tests and more medication.’
After three days his doctor told Heather to bring their son, Lincoln, in to say his goodbyes.
Mr Oakes said: ‘Heather was confident I would be alright in the end though – she views me as strong and a fighter.
‘She worked exceptionally hard to keep Lincoln’s life as normal as possible, as well as visiting me. She has had the hardest journey of all of us, without a doubt.’
Eventually, Mr Oakes recovered, although problems with his shoulder persisted, as well as fatigue and a lack of focus caused by the illness.
