Teacher’s pet who became drug addict due to diabetes ‘lucky to be alive’ after triple sepsis from gaping injection wounds

A former “teacher’s pet” who became an IV drug addict when he sought relief for chronic pain caused by diabetes “accepted he would die” after he caught sepsis three times from injection wounds, has said he now feels “lucky to be alive” but “unbelievably guilty” following a full recovery.

Aaron Speer, 34, an inclusion and diversity manager from Watford, was diagnosed with type one diabetes at age 27 and struggled to manage his blood sugar levels. He developed peripheral neuropathy – a painful nerve damage condition that made him feel like he was “walking barefooted through snow 24/7″.

Aaron first turned to alcohol for pain relief and ended up consuming “at least two bottles of wine a night”. At the height of his drinking, he got diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) which, according to the NHS, is when a lack of insulin causes harmful substances called ketones to build up in the blood, causing symptoms such as vomiting, heavy breathing and exhaustion.

When in hospital for DKA, doctors also discovered that he had a liver infection, enlarged spleen, periorbital cellulitis, and biliary sepsis, which made him susceptible to reinfection.

After leaving the hospital, Aaron turned to drugs because they made him feel “pure joy for the first time” and he began taking mephedrone, methamphetamine and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), also known as the date rape drug, which he said he started taking as part of the “gay sex scene”.

Aaron injected into his skin, and began to pick at his wounds, which led to him contracting sepsis for a second and third time, as well as getting DKA another “four or five times”.

He remembers thinking that he was “going to die”, but after returning to his family home in Watford, he stopped taking drugs as he saw it as his “safe space”.

Aaron has now been clean of substance abuse for nearly three years but has post-sepsis syndrome and is trying to get therapy for PTSD.

He said he feels “unbelievably guilty” for surviving but has been helping others with sepsis and drug addiction as his way “of giving back”.

Aaron told PA Real Life: “If someone had told me a couple of years ago that I would become a junkie, shooting up, I would have laughed them out of the building.

“I was the biggest teacher’s pet in school – it was the most out-of-character thing to do.

“It just goes to show that you never know what is going on behind closed doors.”

In 2017, Aaron was diagnosed with type one diabetes and moved to Cardiff for a “fresh start” as he “struggled” to manage the condition due to ADHD and depression that surfaced from his diagnosis.

He said: “I was grieving the death of my old self and I was becoming more depressed about all the things I had to change to make room for diabetes in my life.”

Aaron “did not care” about managing his sugar levels, and, as a result, developed peripheral neuropathy.

He explained: “It felt like I was walking barefooted through snow 24/7.

“It’s an ache that never goes away – I even got electric shocks at night, it meant that I couldn’t sleep.”

Aaron turned to alcohol to manage his pain and ended up drinking “at least two bottles of wine a night”.

In April 2019, at the “height of (his) drinking”, Aaron’s alcohol misuse and not taking his insulin “properly” caused him to have DKA.

When in hospital for DKA, doctors discovered that he had a liver infection, enlarged spleen and periorbital cellulitis. Aaron also had biliary sepsis, which made him susceptible to reinfection, but was not informed of his diagnosis until a later date.

He said: “Doctors said I could have died if I went in any later.”

When getting out of the hospital, Aaron began taking GHB, mephedrone, and methamphetamine.

He said: “I began by snorting M-CAT and I got so much relief that I had been desperate for and I felt pure joy for the first time.

“I was also taking GHB because, unfortunately, I got dragged into the whole gay sex scene in Cardiff, and that’s what made the whole addiction proliferate because it’s such a huge problem amongst the gay community.

“The more I did drugs, the more my body built the tolerance, which is how it led to IV drug use.”

Over time, Aaron injected “all of the veins in (his) body” and ended up injecting into his skin because his veins had “collapsed”.

He started to pick at the wounds on his arms, which, in July 2020, turned into cellulitis and sepsis.

He said: “I became bed-bound for a week, and I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

“I had to crawl into the kitchen to get myself a drink or go to the toilet.”

Aaron’s sister visited his GP for him, and she was told by doctors that “if (he) didn’t go into hospital soon, (he) would die”.

Aaron said: “She called for an ambulance and they said they got me in the golden hour – if it was any later I would have been dead.”

Aaron’s sepsis recovery was made even harder because he was in drug withdrawal, as he had not been able to take anything when in hospital. Later, when he had some “bad news at work”, he relapsed.

While taking drugs, he also ended up getting DKA “around four or five times”.

A few months later, in November 2020, Aaron’s condition worsened and he got sepsis for the third time.

He tearfully said: “I remember my mum had to come into my flat and there was blood and needles and sick everywhere, which was absolutely devastating for her.

“I was the most immaculately clean, tidy person, and now she was literally walking into a crack den.

“My mum was told by doctors that I could have died again.”

In early December 2020, he had surgery to have a central line to administer antibiotics due to the state of his veins from the drug use.

Again, from being in the hospital, Aaron had withdrawal symptoms, on top of trying to recover from sepsis.

He said: “I remember thinking ‘I’m going to die’ and I accepted that – I wasn’t suicidal I just wanted the pain to end, I felt like it was inevitable.”

But Aaron returned to his family home in Watford and started to overcome his drug addiction.

He said: “I had such a mixture of emotions – I was in shock that I nearly died again, and I was angry that I let myself get to this state.

“Ever since I left the hospital, I haven’t touched drugs because I had never done them at home so it felt like a safe space for me.”

In August 2021, he returned to an organisation that he “loved”, and things began to look up, but, despite being “clean”, Aaron still did not “feel right”.

He said: “Neuropathy is still an issue, and I have post-sepsis syndrome, and I’m trying to get support for PTSD therapy, but I just tell myself I’m lucky to be alive.

“I have to inject myself every day with insulin because of diabetes – all I have to do is look at the scars from my drug use, to be reminded of what I did and I get constant flashbacks and nightmares.”

Aaron is now hoping to help others with drug addiction and sepsis.

Becoming emotional, he added: “There are so many people out there that die from sepsis or can’t turn to family in times like this.

“I would have died without my family – my parents and my sister were amazing, and so was the NHS, they never gave up on me.

“I feel unbelievably guilty because I survived and now I try and help in support groups as I feel like it’s my way of giving back. I can’t put into words how much I want to help others.

“I feel like I survived all of this so I can help other people, I’ve been blown away by the kindness of others who I have told my story to.

Looking back on his experience, he said: “I used to judge drug users, and I never thought I would be one.

“I never thought I’d be able to get out of that time in my life, but I want other people to know that there is support out there.”

For support about sepsis go to Sepsistrust.org, for help on drug addiction you can visit Talktofrank.com and for more information about mental health aid use Mind.org.uk.