A Decade‑Later Reunion Shows Why Sepsis Awareness Saves Lives

Mac Horsburgh was placed in an induced coma after a bloodstream infection, spent three weeks in intensive care and ten days unconscious. Ten years later, at a sepsis‑awareness ceremony in the Manitoba Legislative Building on Sept. 13, he was reunited with Bernadette Warwaruk, the ICU nurse who cared for him.

Horsburgh explained that the sepsis started with a cyst on his finger that was misdiagnosed as an inflammation. The untreated infection entered his blood, weakened a vessel and caused an aneurysm to rupture, leading to the severe sepsis that threatened his life.

Sepsis is a life‑threatening condition in which the body’s response to infection damages its own tissues and organs. The Canadian Sepsis Foundation says it is involved in as many as one in 18 deaths in Canada, making it the 12th‑leading cause of death nationwide.

The ceremony also proclaimed Sept. 13 as Sepsis Awareness Day in Manitoba, an effort driven by survivors and advocates such as Kim Dupasquier. Renée Cable, Manitoba’s advanced education minister, urged anyone with a worsening infection to seek medical help immediately.

Both Horsburgh and Warwaruk said the reunion underscored how early, attentive care—and public awareness—can turn a fatal infection into a survivable story.

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