A father who developed deadly sepsis has raised more than £9,000 with the help of fellow parents at his children’s school in Letchworth.

St Christopher School parents Philip and Hannah Fielding nominated the charity, which supported them after Philip developed sepsis in 2016.

The school raised the money through an auction at its annual Summer Ball in July. On Tuesday last week St Chris School donated a cheque for £9,708.79 to the charity.

Philip said: “The UK Sepsis Trust is doing an amazing job at raising sepsis awareness.

“They hold regular support groups all over the country for people, like us, affected by sepsis and these have been an important part of my recovery.

“We are extremely grateful to the Parents’ Circle at St Chris for choosing to support the charity and to each and every parent and member of staff who donated so generously.”

In 2016, Philip – who was 34 at the time – felt increasingly unwell with flu-like symptoms, which continued to worsen over the course of Easter bank holiday weekend.

After visiting an out-of-hours GP, he was sent straight to Lister Hospital in Stevenage where he was placed in an induced coma, suffering from septic shock and multi-organ failure.

Philip’s condition continued to deteriorate and his family were delivered the devastating news that he was not expected to survive much longer.

The medical team decided to attempt a chest drain – an extremely risky procedure for someone in Philip’s condition. Incredibly, the chest drain was successful.

Philip was in a coma for two weeks and lost his legs as a result of the lack of blood supply, but thankfully did not suffer any long-lasting brain damage.

It wasn’t long before Philip was walking on prosthetic legs. He is now a keen wheelchair tennis player, competing nationally and abroad and was accepted onto the Team GB Paralympic wheelchair tennis development squad.

Philip continued: “The Charity Summer Ball was a wonderful night which also gave me the opportunity to personally thank the school community for the love, support and stability they provided for my children and wife over such a difficult period in our lives. We hope that by supporting the work of the UK Sepsis Trust we can help prevent other families from being affected by this devastating condition.”