Student who thought she had a cold ends up in a coma fighting for her life
Life can come at you fast, and sometimes a near death experience can give you a new perspective on the things that are important - especially when you realize you are a survivor.
It's easy to take life for granted. A lot of the time we focus on what hasn’t been going well or what could go wrong.
British influencer Caitlyn Sophie is well aware of how quickly things can change, and how you can go from being fine to a life-or-death situation.
In less than 48 hours in 2022, Caitlyn found herself in a hospital bed with an infection, in an induced coma, fighting for her life.
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In addition to that, doctors believed she had attempted to take her own life.
Caitlyn spoke with UNILAD and opened up about her brush with death and how she is a survivor after coming out on top following a brush with pneumonia and sepsis that put her in a coma.
To paint a picture of her health, Caitlyn explained she has had to deal with a slew of ongoing health issues throughout her life.
This includes Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Endometriosis, Fibromyalgia as well as a list of other issues, making her a survivor in normal circumstances anyway.
Caitlyn has been open about her health struggles on her social media pages, talking about them on her TikTok page, caitlynsophiex and her Instagram lifewithcaitlyn, as well as her latest fashion outfits and inspirations.
But recalling the experience, Caitlyn said that while her memory is a little hazy, she felt completely fine in the days before she was taken to the hospital.
Due to her chronic illnesses, Caitlyn initially believed the issues she was experiencing were just normal aches and pains she had lived with for years.
“February 2022, the Saturday, I was completely fine, like me, my partner, my mom and dad we all went to see this cover band that was in town and everything was fine," she said.
“I thought I had a cold. So apparently [on] the Sunday we went to the cinema. I don’t remember this at all, this is from what my partner said.
“On the Monday I went back to uni, he went back home because we weren’t living together at the time. I had stopped answering him at some point on the Monday.”
Caitlyn remarked how her partner felt something wasn’t right and got increasingly concerned about her lack of response. He then called on her neighbors and her flatmate to check on her.
“Everyone was like ‘oh she’s just asleep, it’s fine. Like she’s just having a nap probably'," she said.
“It got bad when he called my flatmate and was like ‘no seriously, you need to get home from work. Like, I'm freaking out, something’s wrong.'
“My flatmate came home from work probably about one in the morning and he found me on my bed completely unresponsive. He couldn’t wake me up."
The flatmate called an ambulance, but initially the paramedics saw Caitlyn's normal medications and 'basically said she has overdosed'.
"Obviously, I now know I had sepsis and pneumonia, [but] that wasn’t what the paramedics thought," Caitlyn said. "[They thought] she’s done it to herself.”
Caitlyn explained that she did not attempt suicide and insisted that the blood tests that were later taken at the hospital confirmed she had not taken more than recommended doses of her normal medication.
She added that when she was rushed to hospital, medical staff were treating her for a morphine overdose and hadn't yet concluded that it was actually sepsis and pneumonia.
Caitlyn explained the hospital staff put her in a medically induced coma, which is a state of sedation for those in a critical condition. This can allow staff to better gauge what the issues are and administer oxygen as well as any necessary drugs.
Unnervingly, staff were not aware of what state Caitlyn would be in if - or when - she would be able to wake up.
This question of whether she would ever wake up became even more pertinent when she suffered multiple organ failure due to her low oxygen levels, sparking questions of permanent brain damage.
Looking back on her time in the coma now, Caitlyn said she remembers having terrifying nightmares.
She said: “So the two weeks I was out I had almost constant nightmares that were really vivid, really weird as well, they weren't typical."
“Some of those nightmares did feel like very much I was on the brink of death or something really bad was happening," Caitlyn continued. "But once I woke up it was less so, I remember just being really confused for the most part."
Beyond the confusion, she then had to attempt to convince medical staff and a psyche team that she hadn’t attempted to overdose - something Caitlyn admitted was very trying.
Caitlyn also added that after the confusion passed, the fear set in and she began to doubt her own ability to recover, barely able to speak and still bed bound.
Thankfully, Caitlyn was able to make a recovery and woke up after about two weeks, after doctors had dealt with the sepsis and pneumonia.
She was left with no clear permanent issues, but to this day she does not know what caused the episode or infection.
Now knowing just how quickly things can change, Caitlyn said she feels differently about life after her experience, and encouraged others to not to take life for granted.
“I do try and just sort of laugh at it off. So, if someone brings it up, I'm very much, you know, chill about it, laughing about it, trying to make light of the situation," she said.
“Since I've come out of the coma, I'm very much like, 'everything can change so quickly', so screw up, do the thing. Whatever the thing is. Just screw it, do it.
“Do whatever you want to do. Like, if you're sat there thinking about it, there's clearly a reason you're thinking about it. So rather than just sit there and think just act on it as fast as you can."
Essentially, seize the day, grab life by the horns and go after what you want. Great advice if you ask me!
UNILAD’s Survivors series sheds light on different survival experiences and the lessons learned from facing death. New interviews will be released daily beginning May 20.
Gerrard Kaonga