Utah woman speaks out after losing husband to post-sepsis syndrome - KSL.com

CEDAR CITY — It was the third Friday in July, and Stefani Ellison found herself deep in grief."It's a 'traumaversary,'" she said. "The third Friday in July of 2023 is when he had his leg amputated. It was the third Friday in July of 2025 when he took his life. Today is the third Friday in July, so here we are again."On July 18, 2025, Stefani Ellison's husband, Stephen Ellison, 68, succumbed to a condition known as post-sepsis syndrome, which affects up to 50% of sepsis survivors, according to the National Institute of Health.Sepsis is the body's extreme response to infection and is a life-threatening condition. For sepsis survivors, however, the battle is far from over, and Stefani Ellison said that it was something she and her husband weren't prepared for."Medicine is doing so much better at helping people with sepsis survive the infection, but so many are suffering the after-effects and still succumbing to the sepsis," she said. "I don't think we understand that. We think, 'Oh, yay. They're better. They got out of the hospital, and now they're done,' when it's really just the beginning of a whole new life."The Ellisons live in Cedar City and raised 19 children —14 of whom have special needs and were brought into the family by way of international adoption. Stefani Ellison worked as an international adoption specialist, and Stephen Ellison was a truck driving instructor. In the spring of 2023, their life forever changed when Stephen woke up with an ulcerating sore on his left foot that stemmed from a broken foot many years prior. On that day, he put his boot on and went to work as he had done many times before, but as the day went on, that sore grew and developed into an infection."He left in the morning and came back, and he couldn't take his work boot off," Stefani Ellison recalled. "It was all swollen and infected. He finally got his boot off, and his foot was black. We went to the hospital, and that night he had surgery to remove his toes that they weren't going to be able to save."The couple thought they had weathered the storm, but only a few short weeks later, the infection turned into sepsis. Stephen Ellison would encounter sepsis two more times over the next several months, which eventually led him to needing his leg amputated just below the knee."After six months, he was doing well, and he was fitted for his prosthetic leg, and it looked like, 'OK, we should be ready to go,'"