Jackie Duda
Jackie Duda is a wife and mom of four, and also a septic shock survivor and journalist living in New Market, Maryland. Jackie is a vocal sepsis and disability advocate, vlogger, and public speaker.
On May 22, 2021, Jackie suffered a colon perforation from undiagnosed diverticulitis. Jackie has battled POTS, Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos, Crohn’s Disease, osteoporosis, and other life-altering disabilities for more than ten years.
Jackie’s professional writing career began in 2001 after she left teaching at Montgomery County Public Schools. Her writing was paused from 2012 through 2022, while she gained enough strength during her septic shock recovery to start pitching stories again to her former editors. Jackie felt an overwhelming need to tell her sepsis survival story and eventually landed an assignment with The Washington Post in September 2023.
Jackie’s articles on health and travel have appeared in Woman’s Day, AARP, Costco Connection, Reader’s Digest, and dozens more. She sub-specializes in writing accessibility guides for tourism bureau websites.
She has also appeared on WBAL 11 and WJZ 9 in Baltimore to tell her sepsis survival story. Jackie travels throughout her area teaching about sepsis in community talks and helping sepsis survivors and others battling chronic illnesses and disabilities on Instagram, @jackiesjourney4. Jackie is considering getting involved in politics as a local legislator. Jackie will launch a sepsis and disabilities podcast in early 2025 and will help lead the new “Invisible Disabilities” group discussion forum on Sepsis Alliance Connect. She is also currently working on her first book, a memoir about her experiences with child loss and grief, homelessness, disability, chronic conditions, and her sepsis survival, titled “I Just Keep Dancing.” There is a possibility of working in tandem on a second book chronicling the stories of sepsis survivors and family members who’ve lost someone to sepsis. She is extremely grateful for this opportunity to volunteer on the Advisory Board of her favorite sepsis advocacy organization, Sepsis Alliance.
