The bionic MP: Craig Mackinlay breaks his silence after losing both his hands and feet to sepsis – and admits he was ‘lucky to be alive’ after horror illness that left him with four prosthetic limbs

MP Craig Mackinlay has broken his silence after losing both of his hands and feet to sepsis admitting he was ‘lucky to be alive’ after the horrific illness left him with four prosthetic limbs.

The Tory MP for South Thanet, 57, is set to return to Parliament after he nearly died from the life-threatening disease in September.

He woke up from a 16-day coma in November with completely blackened limbs, due to the clots and lack of circulation caused by his illness.

‘It went completely black – they looked like pharaohs arms, sort of dug out of the desert,’ the MP told GB News.

In a video recorded from his hospital bed in St Thomas’ hospital in London on November 30, two months after being admitted, showing his blackened arms and feet, Mr Mackinlay said: ‘The reality is that I probably shouldn’t have survived this far.’

Mr Mackinlay had to have significant portions of his arms and legs removed to save his life. But the defiant parliamentarian has said he is now ready to get back to work – and wants to be known as the ‘bionic MP’.

And speaking to GB News today, he said: ‘The price I’m going to pay for living is some quiet serious disability.

But he seemed upbeat saying that, saying hopefully he ‘might be a little taller’ with his new bionic limbs.

The Kent MP started feeling unwell on September 27 but thought it was no worse than the beginnings of a cold, and he even took a Covid test which came back negative.

But his pharmacist wife Kati became more concerned for her husband’s health throughout the night after testing his blood pressure and temperature. And she could not even feel a pulse on his stone cold arms by the morning. 

Speaking to GB News, Mrs Mackinlay said: ‘The ambulance first didn’t want to take him to hospital. The only bad marker he had was sugar level which was very very low but once he had breakfast that came back up.

‘They were thinking whether to see his GP or rush him to hospital.’

She said they ‘luckily’ chose to send for an ambulance but when he arrived ‘things started to speed up’.

Mr Mackinlay was suffering from the DIC effect – an out out of control sepsis infection.

He had suffered multiple organs failure and started to turn blue after being rushed to hospital as the sepsis took hold.

** WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW ** 

In December he said he was ‘extremely lucky to be alive’ after undergoing ‘extreme surgery

But today he detailed the harrowing episode in full, including waking up in St Thomas’s Hospital to find his limbs had turned black.

Mr Mackinlay’s situation escalated rapidly. After feeling mildly unwell one night in late September, he was badly sick during the night, and by morning his wife could not feel a pulse.

Shocking images show the MP looking down at his affected limbs before they were removed.

‘I could see black arms and my wife was explaining what happened,’ he told GB News.

‘I think I was still on the joys of fentanyl and all the rest of it by then, so I was in and out of lucidity. But I could see these things (hands) were probably lost.

‘It became obvious. My fingers were completely fixed into a clenched fist. As for my toes, I could move a couple of toes on my left leg but there was sort of a little sign of life in them.

‘Maybe they could have saved a bit of a foot but my surgeon said ‘you are better off having them off’, because you can have prosthetics and you’ll walk far better than having a partial foot.’

Doctors were even considering the possibility of issuing a do-not-resuscitate order if his heart stopped.

But he took his first 20 steps unaided after the surgery on February 28, marking a major milestone in his recovery after a sombre Christmas period. Thankfully, he said, his four year old daughter Olivia dealt with the situation well.

Sepsis, also called septicaemia or blood poisoning, occurs when the immune system overreacts to an infection.

In 2016, the Daily Mail launched the End the Sepsis Scandal campaign following the tragic case of William Mead, who died at 12 months old after a catalogue of errors and misdiagnoses.

But despite the trauma, Mr Mackinlay has said he is ‘ready to get back in the saddle’ and serve his constituents – as well as inspire the next generation.

First elected in 2015, the outspoken MP has even said he will contest his seat at the next election.

He added: [I want to] get back to the things I really enjoy. Get back speaking out for the population of South Thanet and get ready for that election and try and get some decent manifesto points in with the pressure I want to bear.

‘I’m hoping people might give me the benefit of the doubt and say, ‘that man has been a fighter for himself, he’s damn well going to fight for me, I’m going to give him my support.’ The bionic MP is what I want to be. When children come up to Parliament and go to the gallery or go to the school section that Parliament does very well, I want children to be tugging on their mother’s coats and saying, ‘I want to see the bionic MP today’. That’s what I want to do.’

He has said the loss of his hands has been the most difficult thing to deal with, and that the prosthetic replacements will ‘never be the same.’

He told the BBC: ‘You don’t realise how much you do with your hands… use your phone, hold the hand of your child, touch your wife, do the garden.’

Paying tribute to Mr Mackinlay following the announcement, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick posted on X: ‘An exceptionally brave man.

‘Look forward to welcoming you back to Westminster.’

Tory backbencher Mark Jenkinson said: ‘Craig’s story is a remarkable one.

‘His bravery and strength, and that of his wife Kati and daughter Olivia, is incredible.’

Tory MP Marco Longhi said: ‘Brilliant to see Craig back! I know it’s frowned upon to clap in the chamber, but I’ll struggle not to. Hero.’

Dr Neil Hudson, another Conservative MP, added: ‘Craig is an inspiration and bravely raising public awareness of the risks of sepsis.’