Perthshire gran climbs the equivalent of Mount Everest one year after beating sepsis

A Perthshire gran has climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest, a year on from beating her sepsis diagnosis.

Dee Thomas spent one month in hospital after she suddenly became ill in April last year.

Last month the 66-year-old scaled her local hill near Comrie four times a day to raise awareness of the disease.

Dee’s mission has seen her climb around 1,200 feet a day and has raised more than £8,000 for research.

She said: “I’ve always walked up this hill and it formed a big part of my recovery from sepsis actually.

“I thought it would be nice to use it as the focal point of my challenge.”

Last year, Dee was fighting for her life.

After falling ill with what she thought was flu, her condition drastically deteriorated.

She was rushed to hospital where she was diagnosed with a serious infection attacking her heart and spine.

“My family were told that it was unlikely I would survive it,” she said.

“My son came from Sweden, we put in place for my daughter to come from Australia.

“They all gathered round the beside thinking they would have to say goodbye.

“But I’m back!”

For Dee’s loved ones, her spell in hospital was a frightening time.

“It’s been very difficult but it was harder for my daughter who’s a doctor who really had a full picture of how serious this was,” said Dee’s husband Ian.

“We were bobbing along, hoping for the best.

“But she’s seen how these things sometimes pan out.

“It must have been so hard for her, she kept everything going and pushing her along, keeping our spirits up.

“She was fantastic really.”

Colin Graham, chief of sepsis research charity FEAT said: “In the UK, it kills around 50,000 people, which is more than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined.

“Worldwide, it kills more than 11 million people.

“It’s a massive problem that we’re trying to fix and we’re trying to do that through research.”