Tory MP says he is ‘lucky to be alive’ after losing hands and feet to sepsis

A Conservative MP admitted being “lucky to be alive” after losing both of his hands and feet to sepsis.

Craig Mackinlay has been fitted with four prosthetic limbs and is set to return to the Commons this week.

The MP for South Thanet nearly died from the life-threatening disease in September.

He woke from an induced coma in November with completely black limbs, due to the clots and lack of circulation and multiple organ failures caused by his illness.

Mackinlay, 57, told GB News on Tuesday: “It went completely black – they looked like pharaohs arms, sort of dug out of the desert.

“Everything was starting to shut down.

“My wife was told that they rarely see people with this amount of illness in the hospital and to perhaps prepare for the worst.

“You end up with a lot of blood clots in your extremities, and they call it your ‘socks and gloves’.

“Your socks are your feet and your gloves are your hands.

“It also affected the front of my face. You can see quite a lot of scarring because of a loss of blood supply in the front of my mouth.

“It caused some damage to teeth and a bit of scarring, they had to take off some dead skin.”

Mr Mackinlay released shocking images of himself in a hospital bed at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London looking down at his gangrenous limbs before they were amputated.

Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that occurs when the immune system overreacts and starts to damage the body’s own tissues and organs.

Mackinlay’s pharmacist wife Kati spoke about the anguish she felt during a tumultuous period for her family.

She said: “We didn’t know what the cause was. None of the tests were showing any bacteria and that was after six days.

“Then we were told Craig would only have five per cent chance of surviving.”

The father-of-one announced his diagnosis on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the end of October, spurring words of well wishes from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other Cabinet members, as well as Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs.

Mackinlay said he has been “overwhelmed by the kindness of friends and strangers” since his diagnosis.

He said at the time: “I’m sure I’ll have lots more to say about the experience over the months ahead. For now, I’d like to send my heartfelt thanks to the many constituents who have sent their good wishes.”

Mr Mackinlay started his political career in the early 1990s, briefly leading the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) before leaving to join the Conservative Party in 2005.