It was on 27 September, when Mr Mackinlay, 57, began feeling unwell. He didn’t think much of it, took a Covid test (which came back negative) and had an early night.
During the night he was badly sick but still didn’t think it was anything serious.
However, as the night wore on, his wife Kati – a pharmacist – began to get worried and tested his blood pressure and temperature.
By the morning, she noticed that his arms felt cold and she couldn’t feel a pulse. After ringing for an ambulance, Mr Mackinlay was admitted to hospital.
Within half an hour he had turned what he calls “a very strange blue”. “My whole body, top to bottom, ears, everything, blue,” he says.
He had gone into septic shock. The MP was put into an induced coma that would last for 16 days.
His wife was told she should prepare for the worst, with staff describing her husband as “one of the illest people they’d ever seen”. His chances of survival stood at just 5%.
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