you about the weather, or about the best walks in wales. but tonight i'm going on a very different kind ofjourney, a personal one, to find out about a condition which killed my dad. well, to see him suffering like that, it was dreadful. i still miss him now. it's not the same, is it? no. sepsis is taking and changing thousands of lives. people of all ages, across wales. i meet some remarkable people, a mother who lost her teenage daughter. anyone is at risk of sepsis. anybody could fall to this silent killer. doctors on the wards, who tell me how we could save more lives. if i was brought in with sepsis, what sort of treatment would i get? a survivor determined not to let sepsis win. i want my life back. you know, it was nearly taken away from me so suddenly. it's taken more than enough, i think. and i discover the shocking scale of it. we could more than fill this stadium with the number of people that die from sepsis every year in the uk.

it's too many. this is where i grew up — barry, or "barrybados" as i call it. i love it down here. we used to come here when we were kids. mum and dad would bring us here, bring a blanket, a picnic, build sandcastles on the beach. it was great. dad was a good dad. he was very much a family man. loved his kids, there was three of us. i'm the baby, the youngest. we didn't have much money in the 1970s, but there was food on the table. my dad, cliff, was a tanker—driver, a really hardworking man. he looks really happy and well in these photos when he was younger. he was a good—looking bloke as well.

that's where i get it from! it's not the same anymore though, dad's not here. it's nearly two years since dad passed away. because of sepsis. i just thought, where did this come from? and what is sepsis? i had never heard of it. i know it's kind of related to septicaemia, blood but it seemed to be one thing after another. dad had a number of illnesses, including dementia. while in hospital he developed sepsis. instead of fighting it, his immune system attacked his organs and he went into septic shock. the doctors and nurses did their best, but it was really hard, you know, when we had that phone call, we rushed to the hospital. i can remember saying to him that we loved him, and i thanked him

for being a good dad. and then the next day he died. as a family, we're still trying to get used to life without dad. i'm going to see my mum joan and sister kathryn today for a catch—up. hiya, mum. nice to see you again. and you. come on, put the kettle on. i will. hiya. i'll do my duty. how's it going. all right. i'm just looking at some photos. there are some photos there now. he looks young there now. yes. obviously me and kathryn miss him a lot, but you were married to dad for, what, 60 years?

yes, 60 years, but i still miss him now. it's not the same, is it? no. no, it's not. all you've got really is your memories, what we used to do, where we used to go. you met so young, didn't you? i was 16 and he was 18. love at first sight. laughter. it was. dad was one of my biggest fans. i remember him taking me for my first interview at the met office. so proud. you know, how you've got on. remember we had the copies of the weatherman walking? i said, you want to watch derek, and the tears would come to his eyes. like so many families, we didn't spot the signs of sepsis in dad. the nurses and doctors did their best, but it overwhelmed him. we weren't aware of sepsis at that point, so could there've been something done sooner,

and would he have still been here? asking the right questions and knowing the signs to look for. well, to see him suffering like that was dreadful. dreadful. voice on radio: quite miserable this afternoon, we have low level cloud and rain pushing in from the west... i'm heading the to cynon valley to meet a mother who is trying to cut the number of deaths from sepsis. i lost my dad, which was tough. she's lost her daughter, who was 17. i can't imagine how she must feel. it must be awful. as i arrived, i spot tributes which had been left opposite the house, where chloe christopher lived with her mother, michelle. people are still coming here even now, laying flowers. chloe died of sepsis just two months before my dad.

it was her birthday recently. she would have been 19. hi, michelle. lovely to meet you. you too. come in. thank you. so tell me about chloe, what was she like? chloe, she was 17. a typical teenage girl. happy—go—lucky. she liked school. she was a good girl. she loved dancing. she loved fashion. she loved make—up. this photograph was taken about a fortnight before chloe died. we'd been unwell, i would say a couple of weeks, a bit of a cough but nothing really to write home about.

i was looking after her. chloe's close friend was here. i came home, went upstairs and chloe was across the landing. and she said, mum, i'm frightened, i don't feel very well. so i said, ok we'll phone the emergency services. i started up, chloe's colourjust drained and so i said to the emergency services about the change in chloe. well then, i had to lie her down and to try to do cpr on her then. chloe just went before us. i was trying to do cpr, on my daughter. it's just unreal.

we had to wait five months then for chloe's inquest to find out that she actually passed away with an e—coli urine infection, which led to multiorgan failure, cardiac arrest and obviously her passing... of sepsis, and sepsis is on her certificate. but until five months later we hadn't heard of sepsis. i found it hard to comprehend how a healthy young girl could have succumbed to the same thing as my dad. there's times when i just close the blinds, close the door and ijust close the world off. sepsis affects around 25,000

children a year in the uk. michelle is telling chloe's story as a warning to others. i've actually gone round local pharmacies, gps in there area, giving out some of the posters that are from the uk sepsis trust, again with some of the leaflets, so they are on display. we just need to get the word out there that anybody can, you or i, anybody could fall to this silent killer. that was so heartbreaking and humbling. michelle is a mum who's had her life ripped apart from sepsis,

and somehow, despite her grief, she is campaigning to raise awareness. she doesn't want any other parent to go through what she's going through. today i'm going back to the university hospital of wales and cardiff where dad died. every time i drive past the hospital, i get a lump in my throat. it just brings it all back, you know. i'm meeting intensive care consultant dr paul morgan, who is leading the fight against sepsis. we have nine patients through the door, and a further 11 patients down the far end of the unit, in what we call our high dependency area, patients recovering from being critically ill. i want to know more about what causes sepsis and why patients like my dad develop it.

sepsis is part of the body's normal response to an infection. your body's going to react to try to fight that infection. but in some people that reaction goes haywire, and that results in things like your blood pressure falling and your body responds by heart rate going very fast, 19 to the dozen. you start to struggle with your breathing. the bloodflow will be compromised and organs start failing. sepsis is treatable with antibiotics and fluids. if the symptoms are spotted quickly. but the symptoms can be similar to other conditions. typically what we see is the patient starts having problems like shivering. they might start to show signs such as slurring their speech or becoming more and more drowsy, confused. they might notice they are not passing as much urine as possible. —— as normal. they'll often report

that they are feeling so terrible they think they were going to die. in the emergency unit staff are worried that this patient may be showing signs of developing sepsis. so you didn't sleep much last night? i suddenly got woken up, i couldn't breathe. do you want to hold my hand? it's a horrible feeling, isn't it, when you can't breathe? christina cox has lung disease and heart problems. what we do is examine your chest, 0k? and from there we'll get some investigations so we can start looking to see where the infection is on your chest, 0k? infection is usually localised where sepsis is affecting the rest of the body. unfortunately, you can go from having it localised to more systemic in a very short time. some organisms can be very aggressive in the way they spread. people can become ill very quickly. blood tests will help to show

whether the lung infection has turned to sepsis. the specially designed trolley means tests can be done quickly. everything you should need is in here. the third one is for making up the antibiotics. we konw that giving antibiotics in a timely fashion is critical. new research suggests that treatment can vary across wales. in a 24—hour snapshot of 290 hospital patients with signs of sepsis last year, only 12% were initially screened and treated in line with best practise. a second snapshot, due to be published next year, is expected to show an improvement. but could it be even better? if we can try and get that sort of system, to get that recognition from everywhere in healthcare, then our chances of picking up patients early and stopping them dying will be much greater. staff have already given mrs cox antibiotics as a precaution. coming into hospital, they gave you

some things to help you. did what they gave you help you a bit? everything they have done has helped. that is good. 0k. if it is sepsis, then they hope they have stopped it in its tracks. for now, they have to watch and wait. it's estimated that 150,000 people across the uk develop sepsis every year. and 114,000 will die. so that's more than the number of people who die from breast, bowel, prostate cancer, hiv and road accidents combined. i was shocked to hear how many lives are affected by sepsis. to put those figures into context, i've come to a place my dad would have enjoyed. dad loved football. he was a big fan of the blue birds. he used to bring me to watch them

play back in the 1970s. not at this stadium, but the old one. he loved it. you could more than fill this stadium with the number of people who die from sepsis every year in the uk. that's 44,000. it's too many. it was the hardest thing ever when we went into the hospital, you know, it was my dad, and really hard to think that that was it. dad had gone for good. and it was sepsis that took him. most patients who develop sepsis do survive. but it can leave them with life—changing consequences. my life before sepsis, i was very active.

wejust enjoyed, like, going to the beach. just outdoor activities. kept myself relatively fit. jayne carpenter from merthyr is a nurse who enjoyed life to the full. but six months ago, everything changed. i went to the gp out—of—hours with a cough. i walked into gp out—of—hours, and then i woke up two—and—a—half months later, having nearly lost my life. very nearly lost my life. but i did lose both my legs, my left arm and most of my fingers on the right hand. jayne didn't realise that back in may, the cough she had was in fact pneumonia, and she was developing sepsis. even though i'm a nurse, i know what sepsis is. i know all about it, but i didn't recognise the trigger factors or anything within myself. i hate being in a wheelchair...

by the time jayne went to hospital, she was starting to go into multi—organ failure, and ended up on life—support. and for 2.5 months was in a coma. just seeing the person that you love, you're with them one minute. everything's basically fine. you go on about your life as usual, and then the next minute, your life as you know it, all of a sudden, has stopped. and obviously my only thought isjayne, is she going to survive? is she going to make it? jayne ended up having to have life—saving amputations. so part of the physio process obviously has been for getting independence. learning how to put my own prosthetic arms and legs on without help. so, how did you feel when you woke

up and you realised how ill you'd been, and realised you'd had the amputations? to be honest, i have no real recollection of a definitive moment when i realised i didn't have any limbs. i think most people, including myself, would think if you woke up and realised you didn't have any legs any more, that you would be frantic and panic—stricken? yeah, you would think so. one of the nurses said i repeatedly kept saying to her, "where's my hand? where's my hand?" but i can't remember saying that. when i was told how ill i'd been, that came second best to... you know, it didn't seem as important as that i could have died. jayne spent 3.5 months in hospital, and is still undergoing physiotherapy as she rebuilds her life.

you're doing really, really well. especially as you're an amputee. it is amazing. jayne admits she struggles at times with how others see her. it's human nature, you look at somebody who is a little bit different, but some people go beyond the look. they follow you with eye contact and keep on looking. that use to make me feel i wanted to curl up inside. it was a huge challenge for me to go out to places. you feel like screaming, do you not know what you're doing to me? i've been married 18 years. i still had to ask my husband if he could cope with this. he said, i married you for you, not for your arm or your leg. he's been fantastic. you know. it is difficult to cope, but the only way i look at it is, no matter how difficult is it for myself, it's a lot more difficult for jayne.

so, i think to myself, what right have i got to complain when, you know, jayne has it far worse than what i have. for now, jayne‘s focus is on adapting to her new way of life. i can get to my cooker. i can put things in and out of the oven. i can get everywhere. i can get in my dishwasher. you know, i can do things. until meeting jayne and rob, i didn't fully understand the toll sepsis takes, notjust on families like mine who lose their loved ones, but on those who recover from it. and there are financial implications too. sepsis is said to cost the nhs over £2 billion a year. in wales, it's costing £125 million. back in the emergency unit, and mrs cox's results are in.

it's likely we have caught it at an early stage before systemic sepsis actually set in. at the moment, it seems she's got a more localised infection, affecting her lungs. that's all good news for her. you'll live to see another day. let's hope so. in a few days, mrs cox should be going home. in wales, last year, more than 7,500 people were admitted to hospital with sepsis. and more than 1500 deaths were linked to it. though the mortality rate in wales is slightly lower than in england, more lives could be saved. today, i'm going to meet the health secretary. having seen what sepsis is doing

in our communities and hospitals, i want to know what he thinks of the way the nhs in wales are dealing it. why are signs spotted better in some hospitals than others? and what needs to change? hello. how are you? hello. pleased to meet you. and you, too. do you think that maybe all patients that show signs of sepsis should be screened and there should be a standardised system across wales put into place to help save lives? we have a health improvement programme. we are the first country in the uk to have this early warning score system. that has been rolled out, but it is about how consistently is that being adhered to. it is not happening at the moment. you can go into one hospital and i could have signs of sepsis. i could go to another hospital and get a different treatment. that's the point about the consistency, and recognising

that we are not where we need to be and want to be. if we level that out, of course we would end up saving more lives. i would not pretend that we are perfect where we are. would you consider, as you are health secretary, and you've got the power, you could do it, to make screening mandatory across the board in hospitals? if a mandatory form would work, then i am openminded to that, absolutely. what do we do now? what is successful? what do we do more of? i couldn't look you in the eye and say i can make a choice within the next three weeks or months, that would mean pre—judging what advice i would get about what is the right thing to do for the service. once you have looked at everything, you will make a decision on it? i will not run away from choices that need to be made to improve the service. i have learnt a lot making this programme. and now i understand why my dad died. i've met some remarkable people, and can see why it's so important

to keep fighting sepsis. especially for those who have lost so much to it. hello again, michelle. hi there. nice to see you... for michelle, campaigning is a legacy to chloe's memory. that is what we're here for, to try and spread the word. get the word out. and try and save some lives. jayne‘s life may be different now, but there was something she refused to let sepsis change. there were two things i remember doing. one was to complete my revalidation for nursing. i was desperately trying to complete that, which i did, i did it in intensive care. and the other was i wanted my make—up bag. initially the nursing staff were doing it. then obviously with time constraints of nurses, somebody else had to be taught, and then rob had the instructions of doing my make—up every morning. yes, i had to step in. was he a good make—up artist?

he's fantastic. better than me, actually! he hasn't started wearing your shoes, has he? not to my knowledge. behind my back, i don't know! they do feel a bit stretched... jayne and rob are certainly not letting sepsis take any more from them. i see myself in the future, you know, back to walking the dog. back to going on the beach. back to work, because i want my life back. it was nearly taken away from me so suddenly. itjust makes me so, so proud. you know she's going to get there. you know that she's going to, she's grabbed life with both hands. she wants it back. i want me back. hello.

well, it's a gloomy old day out there, there's no doubt about it. the vast majority it is overcast with mist and fog around. not a lot will change through the afternoon. what you've got your probably keep. dampness in the south—west, otherwise it's largely drive. even rather uninspiring. mind you, it's milder than it has been the last couple of days. although the odd place it is being foggy and a good deal chillier than that. some of the clearer skies will be over the north of scotla nd clearer skies will be over the north of scotland as we end the day, that's important as we head into the night, because underneath the clear skies we will see a touch of frost.

for most of us, fog will be the main hazard, turning more extensive. it will be up on the hills and at low levels as well. if you are on the move, take it steady, there could be one of two nasty patches. dampness coming out of the cloud out west. under the clear skies across the north of scotland, you can see a touch of frost, otherwise the night will be frost free for many of us. sunday bulldog rather gloomy for the majority. a struggle to break up that cloud. —— sunday will be one. a few more breaks across the east of wales, eastern pennines. untilwe see a weather front arriving across the western highlands with a few spots of rain developing here. if you're going to any of the fa cup matches, no real problems. you'll need a layer or two but it won't be too cold, about 9 degrees will be typical. this is the picture across the uk, ten or 11. typical. this is the picture across the uk, ten or11. rain typical. this is the picture across the uk, ten or 11. rain turning up across the western highlands on a freshening breeze. we will see the rain turning heavier and more

persistent as we head into the night and a call arrives. the cold front is important, we can see heavy rain spreading down across northern ireland and scotland, across england and wales. behind that it clears up. it is turning chillier as well. showers in northern ireland and scotla nd showers in northern ireland and scotland turning wintry on monday, not just over scotland turning wintry on monday, notjust over high ground. a brief shot of cold through the middle of the week, it will warm up a bit, but only for a time. later on next week, really cold arctic are will sweep down. the wind will be significant and add to the chill. there will be some snow around, notjust in the high ground of the law. watch this space. there will be widespread overnight frost. —— high ground in the north. some changes coming along. i'll be back in half an hour. this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm: the british red cross hasjoined senior doctors in warning of a crisis in nhs accident and emergency

departments in england. a former american army soldier has been arrested, after five people were shot dead at fort lauderdale airport in florida. the governor of florida says the gunman will be brought to justice. the person responsible for this act will be brought to justice to the fullest extent of the law. when you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us. at least 43 people have been killed bya at least 43 people have been killed by a lorry bomb in the northern syrian town of azaz. also the spiralling cost of repairing potholes in england and wales. councils predict the repair bill could reach £14 billion within two yea rs.