Lacy Taylor

My sepsis story occurred while hiking in the Himalayas of Nepal in October 2023. However, it began a month before when I had a bad treadmill accident in which my foot fell and was trapped between the wall and my treadmill belt for a solid 30 seconds. This incident peeled my skin back, exposing the ligament. This wound had mostly healed by the time I started my trek in Nepal, but unfortunately reopened during my days of hiking through the villages. After a few days, I was diagnosed with a Staph infection at the injury site and given antibiotics for it. (Sepsis and Bacterial Infections)

I continued hiking for the next 5 days trying to reach my objective of summiting Ama Dablam (the Matterhorn of the Himalayas). Over that time I experienced a full body rash (later thought to be a sign that the Staph infection entered my blood stream), extreme constipation, fever, and nausea resulting in lack of appetite. After 5 days of symptoms, I ended up getting a helicopter straight to the Kathmandu hospital. They kept me there for a few days before I was well enough to fly back home to the United States. It has been a long recovery, still recovering almost a year later. I am just now feeling close to regaining my climbing strength and it has taken so much effort to get there.