Laila's story

During her three-year intensive treatment for bowel cancer, 31-year-old Laila Hudson developed an antibiotic-resistant infection.

With her immune system already weakened by chemotherapy treatment, she experienced sepsis, required an emergency operation and faced delays to her critical, impending cancer surgery.

Laila collaborated with StoryBug, a project funded by Medical Research UK, that helps people to share their experiences of antimicrobial resistance.

“I knew immediately something was seriously wrong”

“Sharp pain in my abdomen tore me abruptly from my sleep. I knew immediately something was seriously wrong.

This was not the first time we [Laila and her flatmate] had rushed to the hospital in the dead of night. Three years of intensive treatment for bowel cancer meant I knew all too well how unpredictable and perilous the trek up the mountain of treatment could be.

Toxic chemotherapy drugs destroyed, not just cancer cells, but healthy cells too, giving rise to terrifying complications.

My bowel had perforated, made weak from the powerful drugs that were supposed to be keeping me alive, allowing bacteria to flood into my abdomen through my blood and around my body.

My immune system was fragile from the chemotherapy, meaning I’d had multiple courses of lifesaving antibiotics over the course of my cancer treatment.

But this time was different. They didn’t work.”

“Life-threatening sepsis set in”

“My infection was resistant to treatment. Life-threatening sepsis set in.

My temperature soared. My blood pressure plummeted, and my heart pounded frantically in my chest as it pumped the infection through my veins. The surgeon’s face was grave.

‘We have to operate now to control the infection. Otherwise,’ his voice trailed off.

‘I will die from it,’ I said, completing his sentence. No one responded. Terror gripped every atom of my being. The realisation that I might not wake up from this operation gripped me with an icy shock.”

“I thought it was the cancer that would kill me. Now the resistant infection was the threat”

“The infection delayed some crucial life-saving surgery I desperately needed, giving the cancer the time to rapidly grow and spread.

After weeks of treatment, the infection eventually resolved and my chemotherapy recommenced. The thundering wind died down a little.

Antibiotic resistance is a formidable storm, one that for immunocompromised patients we no control over.

Our only option is to focus on the map that outlines the twisting routes ahead, the tools at hand. Antibiotics are one of those tools.”

Laila's digital story

Laila collaborated with researcher Becky McCall, on StoryBug - an initiative sharing the stories of those who have been affected by drug-resistant infections through digital storytelling.

By telling the stories of people who have been affected by drug-resistant infection, Becky is is aiming to reshape how we think about and value antibiotics.

Becky McCall is a a PhD student on our National PhD Training Programme in AMR Research, based at UCL’s Institute of Health Informatics.