– If you get hit, don’t give up, he says.
Now Viktor wants to do what he can to increase knowledge about sepsis – a serious infection that can cause the body’s organs to fail. For him, it is important to help save others from suffering the same fate as he did.
– If you enter the hospital too early, you are often sent home again, he adds The evening paper.
FROM HOUR TO HOUR: The doctors could not promise Viktor’s parents anything. “He lives from hour to hour,” was the message they received. Photo: Private
The Swedish newspaper meets Viktor Sanell Alriksson at his home in Staffanstorp in Skåne in southern Sweden. He receives in his thermomobile, well helped by his personal assistant. which helps him screw on the leg prostheses
– Before this happened, I was a completely normal teenager who went to school, was with friends, practiced karate and drove a moped, Viktor tells the newspaper.
He measured 197 cm when he was stricken with meningococcal sepsis, a blood poisoning caused by meningococci. In most cases, meningococcal sepsis is dramatic and very serious, according to Major medical encyclopedias. When Victor has his leg prostheses on today, he measures 190 cm.
DON’T GIVE UP: If you are affected by the same thing as me, don’t give up, says Viktor Sanell Alriksson Photo: Krister Hansson
From the time Viktor began to feel unwell on 25 January 2022, things quickly went downhill for him. A training session was very short-lived.
– I just went straight home and went to bed. That’s the last thing I remember, says Viktor and continues:
– Mum has told me that she gave me painkillers, but I just threw up. I had an extremely high fever and a lot of pain on the bottom of one of my feet.
Viktor’s mother, Ulrica Alriksson Sanell, 51, works as an operating room nurse. She suspected early on that her son was affected by sepsis. The symptoms he had were reminiscent of the flu. But Viktor had a mysterious bruise on the bottom of his foot and the leg was tender.
– He also could not say that he had injured himself in any way. Then the thought struck me that it could be sepsis.
But when the ambulance arrived, the staff were mostly concerned with whether Viktor had used drugs and focused on bringing his fever down.
– I just babbled and was completely in a fog, remembers Viktor.
– I was distraught that it took so long for the ambulance to arrive at the hospital, recalls the mother.
On the way to Lund University Hospital, Viktor’s condition became acute.
– Only during the twelve minutes the journey took was his condition greatly reduced. When I saw him again, his whole body was covered in bruises and his face was unrecognizable. He was completely gone. Viktor was no longer Viktor.
FEARED THE WORST: It’s hard to tell Viktor this now. Sometimes it was such that we wondered how much he could manage, that it was almost better for him to die, says mum Ulrica Alriksson Sanell Photo: Krister Hansson
Mum Ulrica says that the pediatrician they met at the hospital reacted instantly.
– She had worked at the Rikshospitalet in Copenhagen and there she had witnessed three young boys die from the same symptoms that Viktor had. She just said “I know what this is, now we’re moving on”, says Ulirica and continues:
– He was given fluids and penicillin to keep his blood vessels alive. Meningococci eat blood vessels, fat and muscle tissue – and it happens quickly.
Viktor was to lie unconscious for eleven and a half weeks. The fight to save his life had a high price.
– Both Viktor’s dad, Jerry and I understood early on that he was going to lose both arms and legs. After three days, Viktor’s hands, toes and feet were gone. After spending two weeks in the hospital in Lund, he was flown to Linköping. Then we knew they had to amputate. He lost his legs on 11 February and his arms on 14 February, says mum Ulrica.
Meningococcal sepsis
Meningococcal sepsis is blood poisoning caused by meningococci. In most cases, meningococcal sepsis is a dramatic and very serious condition. Most patients have at the same time meningitis
The infection starts with or without symptoms i the neck. The bacteria spreads from the neck to the blood and a variety of organs. At the beginning, the disease picture may be rather uncharacteristic, but the typical patient eventually gets high feverreduced general condition and skin bleeding, most often as petekkier, which are small punctate skin haemorrhages. Often the patient has symptoms and signs of meningitis at the same time. The bacteria can settle in all organs.
Source: Major medical encyclopedias
Sea view
The doctors could not promise the parents anything. “He lives from hour to hour,” was the message they received. With each passing day, he lost more and more of his body.
– It was so frustrating. Because every day we came to visit, more and more of him was gone. After he lost his legs, they had to remove 70 percent of his skin as well.
Mother Ulrica takes a break.
– It is hard to tell Viktor this now. Sometimes we wondered how much he could handle, that it was almost better for him to die.
When Viktor was finally awakened after all the weeks in a coma, he could not speak. He was in a daze from morphine.
– Mum had to tell me several times about the amputations. I cried and cried and was sedated again, says Viktor today.
But eventually he realized what had happened to him and that he had to think again.
– I began to realize that this is how life is going to be and I just had to accept it.
Viktor, who had once been so good at karate, began to train. Supported by family and friends. With warmth in his voice, he tells about the friends from the moped car gang who paid tribute to him while he was still in hospital.
DREAMS ABOUT KARATE: Viktor wanted to get a driver’s license, take part in the Sweden Rock festival, start his karate training again. Photo: Private
– They drove in a motorcade all the way from our home to the hospital where I was lying. There were maybe 60 mopeds.
Since he was discharged from the hospital and has moved back home, he has started to set goals for his life. He will get his driver’s license, take part in the Sweden Rock festival, start his karate training again – and now he has even started thinking about the Paralympics.
– I will go for the summer, start school again in the autumn and I want to travel.
Mamma Ulrica tells VG that he would like to be an example for others and in the summer the plan is for him to come to Norway to meet others who are in his situation.
– It is important to him, says Ulrica Alriksson Sanell.