Sepsis survivor and teacher Lizzie Went undertook the strenuous Yorkshire Three Peaks last month challenge in order to raise funds for the UK Sepsis Trust.
Lizzie undertook the 24-mile continuous circular route on 24th May 2025. Involving three mountains — Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside, and Ingleborough — and including a total of 1,585m of ascent, the challenge must be completed within 12 hours. Lizzie smashed this target by finishing the route within 9 hours 28 minutes.
Lizzie suffered sepsis after an elective c-section which led to a haemorrhage. Following four weeks of pain, she attended maternity triage where, despite her protests, she was sent home with a suspected urine infection.
Lizzie says: “Unfortunately I did not know the symptoms of sepsis at the time, so I decided to trust the medical professionals. Despite my instinct telling me something was serious wrong. That night was the scariest of my life — I deteriorated rapidly and became incredibly unwell. I returned to hospital the next morning where I was finally given a blood test and it was found I had sepsis.
“I then spent the next year suffering with post-septic syndrome and PTSD.”
Lizzie also suffered from a compromised immune system, as well as later developing shingles and other infections alongside extreme fatigue.
During her recovery, she found the UK Sepsis Trust’s Facebook support group, which “made [her] feel more understood and less alone.”
Lizzie says: “The whole experience had left me angry and grieving the lost bonding time with my new baby and incredibly guilty about the amount of time I missed with my eldest son whilst unwell. The UK Sepsis Trust helped to validate my feelings and reassure me it was ok to take things slow and give my body time to recover.”
Having been reasonably fit before her sepsis experience, and having decided to rebuild her strength, Lizzie set herself the challenge of completing the Yorkshire Three Peaks, saying that “this time I would be taking control and choosing the challenge and deciding to push my body to its limits.”
Despite some setbacks, including breaking her leg on a training hike, Lizzie was able to rehab herself and finally achieve her goal.
She says that completing the challenge was “the most amazing feeling. I felt a huge weight lift and finally felt like I was looking forwards instead of being stuck in my past experience.”
So far, Lizzie has raised an incredible £1,815; we’re so grateful to her for her tireless efforts to raise awareness and funds.
She says: “I am passionate about sharing my story as I was reasonably young and fit and did not realise I could get sepsis.
“I now know that those who have just given birth or had an operation are at increased risk so I should have been more concerned about the levels of pain I was feeling. I have already had 3 different people tell me that because of hearing my story they asked the question ‘could it be sepsis?’.
The work the UKST is doing will save lives and they do such a good job of supporting people who have unfortunately had far worse experiences than me.”
