"Something's not right"
Luis (11) barely remembers his time in the intensive care unit. His mother, Manuela Heymer (51), on the other hand, remembers the days leading up to it very clearly: the high fever, the chills, and the growing sense that something was wrong. Shortly afterward, Luis was diagnosed with sepsis.
In February 2023, Luis, who was eight years old at the time, came down with chickenpox. At first, it wasn’t a cause for concern. The blisters itched a little, but otherwise he was fine. The family went on vacation to Valais as planned. The chickenpox was starting to subside. “I wanted to go skiing with my dad,” Luis recalls. “We couldn’t find a parking spot—and then I suddenly got really, really sick.” He developed a fever. First 39 degrees, then over 40 degrees during the night. “I just thought it was a high fever,” Luis recalls. He didn’t expect there could be something else behind it.
Since his fever didn’t go down despite the medication, his parents took him to the nearest hospital that same night. Luis was examined, and the family returned to their vacation rental with more fever-reducing medication. But his fever remained high. The following night, Luis began to shiver violently. “I’d never seen anything like it,” says his mother, Manuela Heymer. The family went to the hospital again, but this time, too, there initially seemed to be no indication of a serious illness.
That uneasy feeling lingers
Luis was feeling worse and worse. His legs hurt, and eventually he could barely walk. The family sought medical help again. A pediatrician at the vacation resort detected significantly elevated signs of infection, and Luis was prescribed an antibiotic. At first, it seemed to Manuela Heymer as if they had finally found an explanation.
But that night, Luis developed a rash all over his body. On top of that, he had a painful bruise on his arm. His mother grew increasingly anxious: “I had such a bad feeling. I just knew something wasn’t right.” They decided to return home immediately.
On their way home, the family called the pediatrician’s office and got an appointment. There, the pediatrician took off Luis’s socks to examine him. Small, pinpoint-sized bruises—known as petechiae—were visible on his ankles. “At that moment, I knew something was seriously wrong,” says Manuela Heymer. She works in healthcare herself and knows that petechiae can be a serious warning sign. The pediatrician also checked Luis’s blood pressure. It was much too low. She immediately called an ambulance.
With the sirens blaring, they rushed him to the hospital. From the emergency room, Luis was taken straight to the intensive care unit. There, he was diagnosed with sepsis. “It was high time,” Manuela recalls the medical team’s assessment. She finally felt like she was being taken seriously—but at the same time feared that help might come too late. “All I could think was: I hope it’s not too late.”
Luis needed medication to support his circulation. His kidneys and liver were also affected. He spent three days in the intensive care unit. Luis barely remembers that time. He has one brief memory: he’s lying on a stretcher, with a lot of people standing around him. “It felt like maybe two seconds.” His memories don’t return until he’s back on the general ward.
What is sepsis?
Sepsis is a life-threatening emergency that occurs when the body’s own immune response to an infection damages its own tissue and organs. Without early detection and treatment, it can progress rapidly, lead to organ failure and septic shock and be fatal. Sepsis is one of the most common causes of preventable mortality and morbidity worldwide.
Getting Started
In total, Luis stayed at the children’s hospital for about four weeks. He needed surgery for the bruise on his arm. During the procedure, the medical team removed dead tissue. That was the only time Luis was afraid. “I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up again,” he says. As time went on, he developed additional infections. He was kept in isolation during his hospital stay. His parents and sister were allowed to visit him, but no other visitors were permitted.
Luis has fond memories of the nursing staff. “They were very nice.” One of them, like Luis, was a Bayern Munich fan, and once he was allowed to watch a soccer game in the nurses’ station for five minutes. The sepsis had caused Luis to lose his coordination. While still in the hospital, he had to relearn how to walk. When a doctor wanted to see how steady he was on his feet again, the team lined up to cheer him on. “When I was able to take my first step, everyone applauded. That was really wonderful.”
Seek help if there is a sudden deterioration
After about four weeks, Luis was allowed to go home in a wheelchair. He recovered quickly, attended physical therapy regularly, and gradually returned to school. At first, he attended classes only for a few hours at a time; he still had trouble concentrating. After about two months, he went back to school on a regular basis. “That’s when I felt normal again,” Luis recalls. The follow-up exam about three months after he got sick showed no abnormalities. Today, Luis is healthy.
Manuela remembers above all the uneasy feeling that kept coming back to her throughout Luis’s illness: Something isn’t right. Yet the family had sought medical help on several occasions. The most important lesson she learned from this experience is to trust her gut and seek medical help again if a child’s condition suddenly takes a turn for the worse.