Craig Mackinlay: ‘I woke up from the coma and could see that my arms and legs were dead’ | 10
How Do You Cope?
Wondery
5 • 695 Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do you recover both mentally and physically from a life-changing operation?
John sits down with member of the House of Lords Craig Mackinlay who developed sepsis in 2023 and was given a 5% chance of survival. Craig spent 16 days in an induced coma and then had both his arms and legs amputated.
He discusses how his wife’s tenacity kept him alive, how he’s adapted to life with prosthetic arms and legs, and how old ladies often hug him when he’s out and about.
You can find more information about sepsis on the following websites:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sepsis/ and https://sepsistrust.org/
On Thursday in our bonus episode The Gratitude List, Craig shares the 5 things that he is currently grateful for.
You can send in your thoughts and reflections to [email protected], or follow the show on Instagram and TikTok @howdoyoucopepod.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to episodes of How Do You Cope early and ad-free? |
| 0:04.7 | Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:09.2 | This advert is brought to you by Macmillan Cancer Support, a registered charity. |
| 0:14.1 | If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, the Macmillan online community is here. |
| 0:19.6 | Macmillan's online community is open 24-7. |
| 0:23.0 | It's a free, safe space to connect with people who get what it's like to have cancer. |
| 0:27.6 | You can browse groups, ask questions to an expert, share your experience, or just see what |
| 0:32.6 | others have to say. On the online community, no question is too big, too small or too personal. Their members have all |
| 0:39.7 | been there too. Plus, it's completely anonymous. Search McMillan online community today. |
| 0:49.0 | Hello and welcome to How Do You Cope with me, John Robbins. |
| 0:57.0 | Each week, I talk to fascinating people about the hardships they've overcome, |
| 1:01.2 | and together we explore how they were able to cope. |
| 1:04.4 | Today's guest is the politician and member of the House of Lords Craig McKinley. |
| 1:09.1 | Craig has been involved in politics since 1992 when he first |
| 1:12.6 | stood as an independent candidate for Gillingham in that year's general election. He was a key figure in the |
| 1:18.5 | formation of the UK Independence Party before defecting to the Conservatives in 2005. In 2015, he defeated |
| 1:26.3 | Nigel Farage, then leader of UKIP, in the seat of South Thannett at the general election, and he served as South Thannett's MP for nine years. |
| 1:34.3 | In September of 2023, Craig went to bed feeling unwell. In the morning, his wife Katie noticed that his arms had turned cold, and within an hour a lot of his body had turned blue. |
| 1:46.0 | Craig was admitted to hospital and was told his body had gone into septic shock. He was placed in an |
| 1:51.4 | induced coma that would last for 16 days. His wife was told that he had a 5% chance of survival. |
| 1:59.0 | In December of that year, Craig underwent a quadruple amputation of both his arms and legs. |
| 2:04.5 | He was fitted with prosthetics and had to relearn how to walk. Craig returned to the House of Commons in May |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.