Sepsis 101: Recognizing the Warning Signs before it becomes life threatening
By: Joy Stephenson-Laws, JD, Founder
The actor Daveigh Chase, the voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch and the unforgettable Samara in The Ring, died in a Los Angeles hospital this June at just 35 years old. According to her family and news reports, she developed bacterial meningitis along with a bloodstream infection that led to sepsis. Her partner said she had also been hospitalized earlier that same month for malnutrition, which left her body with far less in reserve to fight back.
I want to be precise here, because precision is part of respect. She did not die of "sepsis" out of a clear blue sky. She had an infection, and that infection set off a cascade we call sepsis. That distinction matters, because it is exactly the cascade that you and the people you love can learn to catch in time.
Sepsis is one of the leading causes of death in American hospitals, and most people cannot tell you what it is. The CDC estimates that at least 1.7 million American adults develop sepsis each year, and roughly 350,000 die during their hospital stay or are discharged to hospice. Most of those cases begin not in a hospital bed but at home, with an everyday infection. Understanding what sepsis is and how to spot it is one of the more life-saving things you can do with ten minutes, so let's fix that.
What sepsis actually is
Start with how your body is supposed to work. When germs get into you, through a cut, a urinary tract infection, a chest cold that settles into your lungs, your immune system rushes inflammation to that spot. It walls the invader off, fights it, and cleans up. Local problem, local response. That is the system working.
Sepsis is what happens when that response loses all sense of proportion and goes body-wide. Instead of staying at the site of the infection, your immune system floods the entire bloodstream with inflammatory signals. Blood vessels everywhere become leaky. Fluid drains out of your circulation, tiny clots begin to form, blood pressure drops, and your organs stop getting the oxygen they need to function. Left unchecked, they begin to fail, sometimes within hours.
So here is the part to hold onto: the infection was the spark, but sepsis is your own body's defense becoming the fire. That is why it can turn deadly so quickly, and why antibiotics alone are not enough once it is fully underway. By then you are not only fighting the germ, you are fighting your own response to it.
It is worth being precise, though, because sepsis is more than simply "too much inflammation." It is a dysregulated, whole-body response that tangles together inflammation, a misfiring immune system, abnormal clotting, and failing circulation all at once. That complexity is part of why it is so hard to stop once it has taken hold, and why catching it early matters so much.
Almost any infection can start it
There is a common myth that sepsis is something rare, something that only happens to people already sick in a hospital bed. The opposite is closer to the truth. As noted, most of it begins in everyday life, with an ordinary infection that quietly gets worse instead of better.
Most cases are bacterial, but viruses like the flu, COVID, and RSV can trigger it too, and so can fungal infections. The most common starting points are the lungs, as in pneumonia, the urinary tract, the gut and abdomen, and the skin, including a cut, a wound, or a scrape that gets infected. In other words, the everyday infections almost all of us get at some point. The danger is never that an infection exists. The danger is an infection that keeps escalating while everyone assumes it will pass on its own.
Why it gets missed, and why that is the real tragedy
The cruelest thing about early sepsis is that it can look like the flu. That resemblance has cost lives, and two stories show exactly how.
In March 2012, a healthy 12-year-old named Rory Staunton scraped his arm diving for a ball during gym class in New York. Within a day he had a fever, was vomiting, and had pain in his leg. His parents took him to his pediatrician and then to a major emergency room. He was treated for a stomach virus and dehydration and sent home once his vitals looked steadier. What went unread were the warning signs already present: mottled skin, a racing heart, low blood pressure. He died a few days later of septic shock. His parents, by their own account, had never even heard the word sepsis until after they lost him. Their advocacy led New York to pass "Rory's Regulations," requiring hospitals to follow sepsis protocols, and it has saved others. It came too late for Rory.
Then there is Katy Grainger, who in 2018 noticed a small, odd-looking infection on her thumb and went to the emergency room. Her vital signs were strong, and she was sent home. Over the next day and a half she felt steadily worse, but she assumed it was the flu, partly because she never ran a fever. A friend found her nearly unresponsive and rushed her back. She was in septic shock. She survived, but as a double below-the-knee amputee who also lost seven fingertips. Her message to everyone now is blunt and important: she had been watching for a fever, and the absence of one nearly killed her. A normal temperature does not mean you are safe.
And then there is the assumption that physical fitness will protect you. In May 2026, the two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Busch died at 41 of bacterial pneumonia that progressed into sepsis. His story is instructive precisely because of how ordinary it looked at the start. He seemed to have a sinus cold a couple of weeks earlier, then carried on as usual, even winning a race and competing in a major event within days of his death. By the time he was coughing up blood and fighting for breath, the cascade was already far along. He was hospitalized and died the next day. One of the fittest athletes in his sport was performing at the top of his game one weekend and gone soon after, because an infection that looked unremarkable had quietly turned into sepsis.
Put these stories side by side and the lesson is clear. Sepsis hides inside the symptoms we are trained to shrug off, and it does not always arrive with the fever we keep watching for. It also does not wait for you to be old or frail before it turns deadly.
Who is at higher risk
Anyone can develop sepsis, but the odds climb for newborns and very young children, older adults, people who are pregnant or recently postpartum, and anyone whose defenses are run down. That includes people with diabetes, kidney disease, lung disease, or cancer, people with weakened immune systems, those recovering from recent surgery or hospitalization, and, as in Daveigh Chase's case, people whose physical reserves have been depleted by poor nutrition or serious illness.
But Rory Staunton and Kyle Busch are the reminder that lower risk is not no risk. One was a healthy 12-year-old boy, the other a professional athlete in peak condition. Neither fit the picture most of us carry of who sepsis happens to, and that picture is exactly what gets people reassured and sent home.
The signs to know by heart
Sepsis Alliance teaches a simple memory tool, the word TIME:
T, Temperature. Higher or lower than normal. A drop in temperature can be just as ominous as a spike, which is why any swing matters.
I, Infection. Any sign of an infection, or a known infection that is not improving.
M, Mental decline. New confusion, disorientation, slurred speech, severe sleepiness, or being hard to wake. This one is easy to miss and especially important in older adults.
E, Extremely ill. Severe pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, or that deep, unshakable sense of "this is the worst I have ever felt" or "something is very wrong."
Other signs that often travel with these: clammy or sweaty skin, a racing heart, fast breathing, and producing far less urine than usual. You do not need every sign. A combination of even a few, in someone who has or recently had an infection, is your cue.
That last item on the TIME list deserves a word of its own. Sepsis survivors describe the feeling again and again as unlike any ordinary sickness, a gut-level conviction that this is serious. That instinct is data. Do not talk yourself out of it.
How to be proactive
There are two halves to protecting yourself and your family: lowering the odds of getting here, and acting fast if you do.
To lower the odds, take infections seriously rather than waiting them out. Clean and cover wounds and keep an eye on them as they heal. Stay current on the vaccines that prevent infections in the first place, including flu, pneumonia, and COVID. If you live with a chronic condition like diabetes or kidney or lung disease, managing it well is part of your sepsis protection, because controlled conditions leave your body more able to fight.
To act fast, treat a sudden worsening the way you would treat chest pain. If someone with an infection abruptly gets much sicker, becomes confused, can't catch their breath, or simply feels profoundly, frighteningly unwell, do not wait until morning and do not wait to "see if it passes." Call 911 or go to the emergency room.
And here is the single most useful sentence in this entire article, the one I want you to keep in your back pocket: say out loud, to the nurse, to the doctor, "I am concerned about sepsis." Naming it prompts the medical team to start the clock and look for it specifically. You can also ask directly, "Could this infection be leading to sepsis?" Once sepsis is suspected, clinicians move quickly: drawing cultures to find the source, starting intravenous antibiotics, giving fluids when appropriate, and checking for signs of organ stress. Earlier treatment is consistently linked to better outcomes, which is why the people who survive sepsis are so often simply the ones who got there early. You showing up and saying the word can be the difference.
Feel. Pause. Act.
After teaching people how to move through frightening moments like this one, I keep coming back to three words: Feel. Pause. Act.™ Sepsis is almost a perfect example of why the sequence matters.
Feel. That deep, wordless sense that something is very wrong is not anxiety to be talked out of. It is information. It is the same instinct survivors describe over and over, the "I have never felt this sick in my life." Your body is often the first to know. Let yourself feel it instead of arguing it away.
Pause. This is the step people get backwards, so hear me clearly: I am not asking you to pause the care. I am asking you to pause the reflex to minimize. Pause the "it's probably just the flu." Pause the "I don't want to overreact." Pause the "I'll see how I feel in the morning." Pause the urge to power through because there is a race to win or a deadline to meet. That pause is one honest breath, not a delay.
Kyle Busch shows how convincing the disguise can be. Days before he died, he was not just functioning, he was winning races. Then an ordinary-looking infection became pneumonia, which tipped into sepsis. None of us can know what he felt or decided. What we can see is how little warning the body sometimes gives, and how easily "I'm fine" becomes the most dangerous thing a serious infection lets you believe.
Act. Then move, and move plainly. Say the words to a nurse or a doctor: I am concerned about sepsis. Go to the emergency room, or call 911. Acting is not overreacting. With sepsis, getting there early is very often the whole difference between the people who recover and the people who do not.
You are not being dramatic, difficult, or a bad patient when you do this. You are doing exactly what every sepsis expert wishes more people knew to do. Rory Staunton's parents had never heard the word until it was too late. Katy Grainger was watching for a fever that never came, and Kyle Busch felt unwell and kept right on competing. None of those outcomes was about a lack of love or courage. They were about a lack of information, and information is the one thing this article can put in your hands for free.
So feel what your body is telling you, pause the voice that insists it is nothing, and act out loud and without apology. That sequence has saved lives, and one day it may save yours, or the life of someone you would do anything to keep.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Sepsis. https://www.cdc.gov/sepsis/about/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements. https://www.cdc.gov/sepsis/hcp/core-elements/index.html
Sepsis Alliance. Symptoms (Sepsis: It’s About TIME). https://www.sepsis.org/sepsis-basics/symptoms/
Mayo Clinic Health System. Consider T.I.M.E. for sepsis. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/consider-time-when-dealing-with-sepsis
END SEPSIS, the Legacy of Rory Staunton. About Rory Staunton. https://www.endsepsis.org/about-rory-staunton/
CDC Safe Healthcare Blog. Staunton O & C. Change Is Coming in the Fight Against Sepsis. https://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/change-is-coming/
CDC Safe Healthcare Blog. Grainger K. I Want My Sepsis Experience to Help Save Lives. https://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/i-want-to-help-save-lives/
Global News. Actor Daveigh Chase is dead at 35 after meningitis. What is it? https://globalnews.ca/news/11911398/daveigh-chase-meningitis-what-is-it/
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Sepsis: A Hidden Threat Every Nurse Must Recognize to Save Lives. https://www.aacn.org/blog/sepsis-a-hidden-threat-every-nurse-must-recognize
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Knowing the Signs of Sepsis Can Help Save Lives. https://www.nfid.org/knowing-the-signs-of-sepsis-can-help-save-lives/
ESPN. Family says Kyle Busch died from severe pneumonia, sepsis. https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/48852216/family-says-kyle-busch-died-severe-pneumonia-sepsis
ESPN. Kyle Busch had pneumonia for ‘days to weeks’ before death (citing the death certificate). https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/48903045/kyle-busch-had-pneumonia-days-weeks-death
UW Medicine, Right as Rain. 5 Surprising Facts About Sepsis (Katy Grainger on having no fever). https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/well/health/sepsis-myths-facts
