EXCLUSIVE: Derek Watts gives update on life-threatening sepsis diagnosis
'Carte Blanche' legend Derek Watts spoke to Martin Bester about the severe sepsis diagnosis that left him "learning to walk again".
Many people have been worried about the South African legend after he shared a photo of himself in a hospital bed announcing that he was diagnosed with severe sepsis.
According to Watts, he was released from hospital five days ago and is currently at home.
READ: 'Carte Blanche’ legend Derek Watts suffers suspected stroke
“I am grateful that people care so much. This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a lot of weird things."
The ‘Carte Blanche’ presenter told Martin Bester that the health scare happened while away in Hoedspruit for his son’s birthday about two weeks ago.
“I was fine. I woke up on Sunday, went for a walk then I started shaking. Within minutes all this happened,” he said.
“I then took my son for some quad biking, still shaking, and when we got there, I couldn’t get out of the car. He [Derek’s son] called the ER; they looked at me and said, ‘this guy is having a stroke’.”
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Watts then ended up going to Milpark Hospital, and after numerous tests, it was determined that he had severe sepsis.
“I don’t know if anyone of you has had sepsis, but in an hour, I couldn’t walk.”
Unfortunately, doctors could not determine what had caused the sepsis.
What is Sepsis?
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, “Sepsis is the body's extreme response to an infection. It is a life-threatening medical emergency. Sepsis happens when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body. Infections that lead to sepsis most often start in the lung, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract.”
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