Sepsis Advocate

My Journey as a mother has been eye opening and truly one that I am forever grateful for. God always has his way of not only knowing who we were meant to be but who we were called to be as parents.

In 2017 my husband and I found out we were expecting twins but our pregnancy was far from easy. My cervix was shortened and that made me a "ticking time bomb". I was told to be on bed rest but with our oldest not even 1 yet it made it hard for me to be able to rest fully.

We were in and out of the hospital all throughout my pregnancy with the twins. Finally at 25 weeks we had to have an emergency c-section. We were told the twins would immediately be taken to the NICU and would have their own battle and journey now to fight. That day was such a blur and I remember my body just in so much pain and feeling weak. I was given so many things before the c-section that would help the babies but in turn would make me not feel so good.

The twins had arrived, and they both weighed 1 LB 14 OZ. They were considered "micro-preemies" because of their birthweight. The next days were filled with joy, uncertainties, and emotions that were beyond my ability to process. It was then at 16 days old that we got the call we never wanted. Our son, Mark Anthony II was not doing so good. He had gotten sick overnight and was now looking like things may go towards the worse. My husband was at work and I had to call him to leave immediately. We rushed over to the hospital and ran in to be with him. It was there that we could see he was different. His vitals, his color, everything was different. We prayed and knew that God would be in control.

That day our son was healed and went to be with God in Heaven. You may be thinking..healed?? He died. And yes our son did pass but I believe his healing came in the form of having to go. I know God was with him and that this was his story. Now we were faced with loss, grief, guilt, and of course sorrow. My only way of coping was through art. I created art to release my emotion. To share my emotions and to just give myself an outlet to heal.

After learning that Sepsis is what took his life, I knew I needed to learn more and share my sons story. I luckily found Sepsis Alliance and was able to reach out and share my story with them. I soon knew that this was an opportunity to honor my son and use my talents to do that.

Bug was our character who blossomed into life and is now the campaign character for Sepsis Alliance to help teach kids and families about Sepsis. Being a advocate for sepsis has encouraged me to continue to share my sons story, and also the work that Sepsis Alliance provides. They offer resources, stories and more to help inform and help people connect and learn about Sepsis. I plan to always partner with them and offer my time and talents to helping them build Bug and her ways on helping raise awareness.

READ MY STORY ON BEING A SEPSIS HERO HERE.

CHECK OUT BUG AND HER RESOURCES HERE.

September is Acknowledged in the State of Texas as Sepsis Awareness Month