Coun Mair - '˜I've been given second chance of life'

A leading Lincolnshire county councillor has revealed how police saved his life - by throwing house bricks through the glass in his back door.

The News revealed last week that Coun Colin Mair, the UKIP leader at County Hall, had almost died after contracting the life-threatening condition sepsis.

Now, Coun Mair has revealed his full story and says, thanks to police and NHS staff, he has been given a second chance of life.

He also told how he clutched a Bible because he was convinced he was going to die after his kidneys failed in Leicester Royal Infirmary.

Coun Mair said: “It started with an infected finger. I don’t know how the infection got in there.

“I couldn’t hold any food down, then I couldn’t hold down antibiotics.

“I am a very lucky man. On November 11, there was a ceremony at the war memorial in Coningsby.

“Friends and neighbours spotted I hadn’t turned up. I was at home in bed although they didn’t know that.

“They tried to wake me up by banging on the doors.

“They ended up calling the police, who threw building bricks at the glass in my back door.

“I was away with the ‘dickie-birds’.

“The noise did arouse me. Somehow, I got myself into the kitchen and unlocked the back door.

“If that hadn’t happened, I’d have been a goner.”

A LIVES responder arrived within five minutes, followed 10 minutes later by two paramedics and an ambulance.

Coun Mair was severely de-hydrated and his blood sugar level was ‘like zero’.

He was rushed to Pilgrim Hospital, Boston and then onto the renal unit at Leicester.

He explained: “My kidneys weren’t working. They brought the dialysis machine when someone looked down and saw I was passing urine.

“I sat there thinking - ok, where is my Bible? I thought this is it. I’m going, belt and braces.”

Amazingly, Coun Mair recovered...thanks to antibiotics and what he describes as ‘brilliant medical care’.

He was in hospital for a week and a half but begged a consultant to discharge him early because his wife, who suffers from Parkinson’s, had fallen and broken her hip.

Coun Mair added: “I told the consultant I knew I was in trouble but my wife was in even bigger trouble. I had to be with her.

“Fortunately, he (the consultant) agreed.”

Sepsis had left Coun Mair with massive swellings on his right knee and elbow but he was ‘just mobile enough’ to be discharged.

Almost two months on and he has made a full recovery.

He added: “I owe such a lot to so many people. We hear so many reports knocking the NHS but the care I received from start to finish has been outstanding. They have given me a second chance.”