“I want to become Sweden’s first amputee welder”
Published 2024-03-29 17.29
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STAFFANSTORP. Viktor Sanell Alriksson, 18, was unconscious for over eleven weeks and woke up – without arms and legs.
Now he wants to increase knowledge about sepsis to save others.
– If you come to the hospital too early, you will often be sent home, he says.
- Viktor Sanell Alriksson, 18, lost both Armar and ben på Grund from meningococcal sepsis.
- He wants to raise awareness about sepsis to help others.
- Viktor delivers the message: “If you have been affected by the same thing, don’t give up. Don’t put yourself down because you’re missing limbs, look at life.”
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Viktor Sanell Alriksson, 18, receives in the hall in his car, and shows us to the bright living room, with a tiled stove and beams in the ceiling.
– Before it happened, I was an ordinary teenager who went to school, I drove a tractor, hung out with friends and practiced karate, says Viktor, who previously told his story for South Sweden.
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full screen Personal assistant Daniel helps Viktor put on the prostheses to walk. Photo: Krister Hansson
He was 1.97 meters tall when he contracted meningococcal sepsis. With the leg prostheses on, he is 1.90 meters tall today. From the time he started feeling crass on January 25, 2022, things went quickly. A visit to the gym was short-lived.
– I go home and go to bed. That’s the last thing I remember, he says and continues:
– Mother has told me that she gave me Ipren and Alvedon. But I just threw up everything. I had an extremely high fever and a lot of pain on the bottom of one of my feet.
Viktor’s mother Ulrica Alriksson Sanell, 51, who works as an operating room nurse, began to suspect sepsis early on. The symptoms resembled the flu, but Viktor had a mysterious bruise on the bottom of his foot, and the leg was sore.
– But he could not say that he had injured his foot in any way. Then I started thinking about sepsis.
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full screen Viktor before he fell ill, at karate training. Photo: Private
“He had blue spots on his body”
But when the ambulance arrived, the staff asked if Viktor had taken any drugs, and focused on getting the fever down.
– I have been told that I was lying sputtering and delirious, says Viktor.
– I was very frustrated that it took so long to get Viktor into the hospital, says Ulrica.
Once they got in, she sat in the front of the ambulance. During the journey to Lund University Hospital, Viktor’s condition became acute.
– In just twelve minutes of travel, he got so bad… When I saw him again, he was blue-stained on his body, had blue stripes on his face, and was completely gone. Viktor wasn’t Viktor anymore, she says, her voice shaking.
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full screen”The paramedics thought it was an overdose. They asked my mother what drug I had taken. I have been told that I was lying sputtering and dizzy,” says Viktor, who wants to increase knowledge about meningococcal sepsis. Photo: Krister Hansson
The pediatrician they met inside the hospital acted immediately, she says.
– She had worked at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, and there saw three guys pass away with the same symptoms as Viktor, she says and continues:
– She just said that “I know what this is, now we’re going”, and soon there were entrances everywhere on Viktor’s body. He was given fluids and penicillin to keep the blood vessels alive. Because meningococci eat blood vessels, fat and muscle tissue and it happens very quickly.
“Removed 70 percent of Viktor’s skin”
Viktor would be unconscious for eleven and a half weeks. A fight to save his life began – at a high price.
– Me and Viktor’s father Jerry understood quite early on that he would lose his arms and legs. After three days, Viktor’s toes, hands and feet were gone. We spent two weeks in Lund. When he was flown to Linköping, we knew they would have to amputate. He lost his legs on February 11, and his arms on February 14, says Ulrica.
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full screen”Viktor’s father Jerry and I understood quite early on that he would lose his arms and legs,” says Viktor’s mother Ulrica. Photo: Krister Hansson
The doctors did not dare to promise anything. The message was “Viktor lives hour by hour”.
– Every day they removed things from him. That frustration… Every time we came in to him, a little more of him was gone. After he lost his legs, they removed 70 percent of Viktor’s skin, says Ulrica and continues:
– It’s terrible to tell Viktor now, but there were times when we wondered how much he would have to cope with. One almost wished the life out of him.
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full screen The doctors did not dare to promise that they could save Viktor. His parents were told that “Viktor lives hour by hour”. Photo: Private
When Viktor was finally awakened, he was unable to speak because he had a trachealkanylinfoclosetrachealalkanylThe trachealkanyl is the small tube that is inserted and forms the free airway. in the throat. He was blacked out from morphine. The message that he had been amputated therefore had to be repeated several times.
– It took many instances of them telling me that I had lost arms and legs before I understood, I was on so many painkillers. Mom told me, I cried, then they had to put me to sleep.
“Driven a motorcade to pay my respects”
The first time the staff had to put him to sleep so he could sleep. But pretty soon Viktor landed on a realization that he would now be forced to start over.
– I started thinking that “This is how my life will be, I just have to accept it”.
The guy who practiced karate now started to fight back. Supported by family and friends. With great warmth in his voice, he tells us that the friends in the a-tractor community paid tribute to him when he was in hospital.
– They drove a cortege from Staffanstorp and home here, there were about 60 vehicles plus mopeds.
Since he was discharged from the hospital, Viktor has checked off goals, one at a time. Get a driver’s license. Go to the Sweden Rock festival. Return to karate training. And now he has started thinking about the Paralympics.
– I have the goal that I will be able to go to the summer and be able to return physically to school in the fall. I’m going to take part in the Sweden Rock festival again, I want to go out and travel, he says, smiling.
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full screen”I have the goal that I will be able to go to the summer and be able to return physically to school in the fall,” says Viktor. Photo: Krister Hansson
The job ambition is clear:
– I want to become a welder. Sweden’s first amputee welder.
Another important goal is to reach out with information.
– Before I got sick, I had never even heard of sepsis, and certainly not meningococcal sepsis. The symptoms are the same as the flu, and if you get to the hospital too early, you are therefore often sent home, says Viktor.
His mother chimes in:
– But it is possible to take a bacteria test in the emergency room, and you must not miss doing that. Then you can save lives. The sample should already be taken in the ambulance, and penicillin should also be given there.
Many praise Viktor for his strength. He himself wants to take the opportunity to send out a greeting.
– If you have been affected by the same thing, don’t give up. Don’t put yourself down because you’re missing limbs, look at life.
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full screen “If you have been affected by the same thing, don’t give up,” says Viktor Sanell Alriksson. Photo: Krister Hansson FACTS
Meningokock sepsis
Symptoms of meningococcal: Severe headache, stiff neck, fever, sensitivity to light, rash, vomiting, joint pain, cold feet/hands, confusion, convulsions and seizures, feeling absent, great fatigue.
Patients with sepsis are treated in intensive care. Antibiotics are given intravenously immediately.
Follow Viktor’s journey on Instagram: Viktors_journey.meningitis
Read more: Meningococcal Foundation.se
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