Leisha Davies, a mum to five-year-old Poppy, developed life-threatening septic shock in January 2024 after weeks of feeling unwell following major abdominal surgery. Her organs began to fail, she suffered two cardiac arrests, and was placed on life support – with her survival hanging in the balance.
Leisha credits her young daughter with saving her life. After finding her collapsed at home, Poppy, aged just five, walked to school alone and told her teachers her mum was unresponsive at home. Now recovering from multiple surgeries and ongoing complications, Leisha is sharing her story to urge others to trust their instincts and to highlight the life-saving importance of acting quickly.
In October 2023, Leisha underwent emergency surgery for a twisted bowel that had wrapped around her aorta and herniated. After a week in hospital, she was discharged and began to recover. By December, she felt well enough to return to work as a mental health support worker, but quickly realised she had gone back too soon.
“I started to feel very ill again,” she said.
Over the following weeks, Leisha made repeated visits to her GP, concerned about swelling in her legs and face and her worsening condition. Despite explaining she had recently undergone major surgery, she felt her concerns were not taken seriously.
“I felt I was shunned and made to feel I was making a mountain out of a mole hill,” she said.
By early January 2024, she was becoming increasingly unwell but put it down to overexertion, balancing work and life as a busy mum.
On 18 January, she became too unwell to get out of bed. Her husband was working away, leaving Leisha at home with Poppy. She made her daughter breakfast before deciding to lie down for what she thought would be a restorative nap.
“I remember feeling extremely tired and decided that a nap would ‘sort me out’,” she said.
As she lay in bed, she began to hallucinate: “I saw paper birds hanging from my curtain pole. But unbeknownst to me I was hallucinating.”
It was the last thing she remembered, as Leisha had collapsed.
Poppy stayed with her mum for 24 hours, unsure what to do. The following morning, seeing children heading into school just beyond their home, she made a decision.
Dressed in her princess outfit, glittery wellies and crown, she walked to school alone and told her teachers what had happened.
“My mummy is on the floor and I can’t wake her up,” Poppy reportedly said.
Her teachers immediately followed her home and called 999, placing Leisha in the recovery position before ensuring Poppy was safe.
When paramedics arrived, Leisha was critically unwell. She was hypothermic, had just 15% of one lung functioning, and her skin was mottled. Her organs were rapidly failing.
She was rushed to the Grange University Hospital, where doctors worked to stabilise her. Her blood sugars were crashing as her pancreas failed. Her kidneys, liver, lungs and heart were all severely compromised.
She was transferred to intensive care, where doctors diagnosed septic shock.
At one point, Leisha was being kept alive by 11 medication pumps. She suffered two cardiac arrests. With options running out, doctors turned to ECMO – a last-resort life support treatment.
Specialist teams from London and Bristol assessed her and made the decision to proceed. Before transfer, she required emergency surgery to insert ECMO lines, complicated by severe clotting issues.
Her family were called to say their goodbyes.
“They did not expect me to live through the night,” Leisha said.
She was transferred to Bristol Royal Infirmary for ECMO treatment, a journey that took three hours due to the high risk of a brain bleed. Against the odds, she survived.
After two weeks, she was transferred back to the Grange, where sedation was gradually reduced. Four weeks after collapsing, she woke in intensive care.
“I then woke up in ITU 4 weeks later,” she said. “I couldn’t move a muscle and could not breathe due to being on a ventilator.”
Her mother was by her side.
“The whole room erupted with my mum shouting ‘she’s back. She’s back’,” Leisha said.
Leisha had no memory of what had happened and had to piece it together from her family. The emotional impact was immediate, particularly when she learned what Poppy had done.
“When I had learned what Poppy had done for me I cried,” she said.
Her recovery was far from straightforward. Due to complications from the medication and lack of blood flow, she was told she would need amputations below both shins.
“This broke me,” she said.
In the end, surgeons were able to save her legs, but all of her toes had to be amputated. She has since undergone extensive skin grafts and reconstructive surgeries, using tissue from her abdomen to repair the damage to her feet.
She continues to undergo further procedures and still struggles with mobility. She has been unable to return to the job she loved.
The psychological impact has also been significant. Leisha describes vivid hallucinations from her coma, which she documents in a diary.
“I call them my coma memories as they were so much more than dreams,” she said.
Despite everything, she is rebuilding her life. She is now studying for a degree in criminology and psychology and is determined to move forward.
Her bond with Poppy is stronger than ever.
“She is my little super hero,” Leisha said. “She is my heroine forever.”
Looking back, Leisha believes her deterioration could have been prevented if her concerns had been taken seriously sooner.
“I would tell myself to insist,” she said. “Insist on help from the doctors. I knew something was wrong.”
Her message to others is clear: “If you feel something is wrong you’re never over reacting. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
She also highlights the importance of teaching children what to do in an emergency.
“Make a noise. Bang on windows. Anything,” she said.
To healthcare professionals, she has a final plea: “Please take people’s pleas seriously and never shun them for knowing something is wrong with their own body.”
For Leisha and her family, the trauma of what happened will never be forgotten. But through it all, one thing remains certain: without Poppy’s courage, Leisha might not be here today.
