MP who had quadruple amputation after contracting sepsis 'lucky to be alive' after being given 5% chance of survival

22 May 2024, 09:56 | Updated: 22 May 2024, 10:08

This article includes images some readers may find distressing

An MP who nearly died after contracting sepsis has spoken of the impact of losing his limbs to the deadly infection.

Last September, Craig Mackinlay was rushed to hospital after feeling unwell and placed into an induced coma which lasted 16 days.

The 57-year-old was given just a 5% chance of survival after being diagnosed with sepsis that then led to the amputation of his hands and feet.

The Conservative MP for South Thanet has shared he wants to be known as the first “bionic MP” after he was fitted with prosthetic legs and hands.

He is due to make his return to the House of Commons today.

MP Craig McKinley reveals astonishing damage sepsis had done to limbs before amputation

Mr Mackinlay's wife Kati and four-year-old daughter are set to watch his return to Prime Minister's Questions from the public gallery on Wednesday.

Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection.

It occurs when the body's immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage the body's own tissues and organs.

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'Bionic MP'

Now on the eve of his Commons comeback, he told the BBC he wanted to be the first "bionic MP", having been fitted with prosthetic hands and legs.

He described waking up from his coma and seeing his legs had "turned black", telling the broadcaster: "I haven't got a medical degree but I know what dead things look like.

"I was surprisingly stoic about it... I don't know why I was. It might have been the various cocktail of drugs I was on."

"They managed to save above the elbows and above the knees," he told the broadcaster. "So you might say I'm lucky."

In a video recorded on the eve of the operation, obtained by The Telegraph, he said: "The grim reaper has let me survive, but he's taken his payment in four of my limbs."

In the video he compares the appearance of his arms and legs to "plastic" and "leather".

He also thanked the NHS and the staff who helped him at Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent.

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All the amputations took place on 1 December and Mr Mackinlay said a "sombre" Christmas followed.

But he said his four-year-old daughter Olivia "adapted to it very easily... probably better than anybody else frankly, I think children are just so remarkably adjustable".

Now he has his sights set back on Westminster, where after attending Prime Minister's Questions, the MP will meet Rishi Sunak before getting back to the day job.

He is determined to fight the next election to continue to serve his Kent constituency.