Near-death experience led to challenge to walk every road

Jacob Setters, who is now 18, became ill in October 2019.

‘He started with what I thought was a tummy bug,’ said mum Tracy.

‘He had vomiting and diarrhoea and it just went on and on and on.’

After visiting the Emergency Department three times, Jacob was given antibiotics.

Ultimately it took a visit to the family GP for Jacob to be diagnosed and quickly admitted to Frossard Ward where he stayed for 11 days, many of them in the children’s intensive care unit where the extent of his illness saw him close to death.

Mrs Setters said the nurses were shocked when his temperature hit 38C and his levels of sepsis were among the highest they had seen.

He was discharged less than two weeks later.

But it was not long before Jacob realised all was not well.

‘I was lying on the sofa but when I stood up I didn’t have any control of my body,’ he said.

Mrs Setters took him straight back to the PEH. ‘The next morning he was staring into space and having convulsions so they put him on the plane to Southampton,’ she said.

He was in Southampton for two weeks and again was at death’s door at one point.

Sepsis occurs when the body overreacts to an infection and could stem from something as simple as an infected cut, but neither Jacob nor his mum could think of what might have led to his contracting the illness.

‘I had a bump on my knee a few weeks before getting sick, but the doctor said it wasn’t that,’ said Jacob.

It was while he was in the hospital that a doctor suggested walking as a good way to help his recovery and Mrs Setters said she hit upon the idea of raising awareness of the condition by walking every road in the island.

A friend came up with the title Get Setters Go and so began a three-year campaign which saw Jacob and his mum, often accompanied by friends and family, walk all the roads in Guernsey, a total of 332.97 miles.

They also included walks around Lihou and Herm and every walk was documented by a photo which they stuck on a map of the island.

‘We walked once a week for three years,’ said Mrs Setters. ‘But trying to get a teenager to do a walk every week was more challenging than I thought it would be.’

The idea of using the challenge to raise funds did occur to her but she decided it against it and focus on raising awareness.

Their walks ended in St Peter Port and friends from Jersey who had joined them on their first walk came over to take part in their last one, too.

As well as being good for physical health, Mrs Setters said doing the walks has helped both of their mental health as well after the stresses of dealing with Jacob’s near-fatal illness.

Jacob, who has just started driving, said he now has a good knowledge of some short cuts around the island.