A postman who lost both of his feet after 'flu' developed into deadly sepsis has revealed how he was just hours from death.
Ryan Nulty, 46, felt perfectly healthy on Friday October 12, 2018 – completing his eight-mile round at 2.30pm, as usual, before going home to bed.
But, rising the next day at 5.30am, he woke with aching bones and flu-like symptoms – fluctuating between sweats and chills – and was forced to quit his round half way through.
Soon, the father-of-two began to shake uncontrollably, his face became covered in a rash and his feet turned freezing cold.
They are all classic symptoms of sepsis, a serious complication of an infection, which causes the immune system to attack the body’s tissue and organs.
Mr Nulty, of Horsham, West Sussex, who lives with his girlfriend, Shaaron Sargent, 45, revealed his feet became 'totally black' as his body fought against sepsis.
Life-changing: Ryan Nulty, 46, of Horsham, West Sussex, pictured shortly after his dramatic double amputation, which saw him lose both feet in 2018
Deadly: The 46-year-old's feet turned 'black and leathery' as the tissue was effectively dead, because of a lack of blood supply, causing gangrene
Slipping in and out of consciousness, Mr Nulty was rushed to Redhill’s East Surrey Hospital.
He was immediately put into an induced coma in the intensive care unit to help protect his organs from sepsis, which was by then attacking his system.
Recalling the build-up of events, Mr Nulty, who has a daughter Sophie, 22, and a son Joseph, 19, from a previous relationship, said: 'On the Saturday, I felt pretty terrible, but as all men do, I just went home, ran a bath and got into bed, hoping I’d be able to sleep it off.
'Then the next morning, I woke up feeling far, far worse and I remember my feet being so cold that I had to put Shaaron’s fluffy pink slippers on.'
When he finally came to eight days later on October 22 – after being brought out of the coma - he had no idea where he was or what had happened, becoming very delusional and unable to distinguish dreams from reality.
He explained: 'I had all sorts of crazy ideas going through my head, like that there was some kind of big conspiracy going on within the NHS and I was there to expose it. I was totally out of it.'
With the sepsis still in his body, on November 3 he was transferred to an intensive care unit at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, as it was closer to home, where he was given dialysis for six hours each day for three days to help his failing kidneys filter the blood.
Support: Mr Nulty lives with his girlfriend, Shaaron Sargent, 45, who has helped him to cope with the ordeal - and first suspected that his life was in danger
Before the incident: Mr Nulty photographed on one of his Royal Mail delivery rounds in Redhill’s East Surrey, where he's known to the community
Suffering: While his body had fought to protect his vital organs, the extremities were neglected – leaving the doctors no choice but to amputate
Gradually, he began to get better as the sepsis – which doctors put down to a latent case of meningitis, which Mr Nulty had not realised he had – began to recede.
But his ordeal had taken a terrible toll during his two-month hospital stay, which ended on December 4.
While his body had fought to protect his vital organs, the extremities were neglected and his feet were 'black and leathery' as the tissue was effectively dead, because of a lack of blood supply, causing gangrene – leaving the doctors no choice but to amputate.
'By the time the doctors said when I was at St Helier that I’d have to have my feet cut off, I wasn’t really that shocked as they were in a terrible state,' he said.
'Nevertheless, though, it was still distressing.'
With the operation booked for January 31 at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, Mr Nulty was allowed to return home for a few weeks, where he was nursed by his girlfriend, who had quit her job to look after her partner of three years.
'Shaaron was
