For most of us, it's a pretty run-of-the-mill experience. Girl buys new heels. Girl wears new heels. New heels cause excruciating pain so girl removes new heels and spends the rest of the evening barefoot.
Unfortunately for Gemma Downey it was so much worse, as the model found herself in hospital with sepsis from an infection caused by a blister from a new pair of shoes.
When the 23-year-old felt her espadrille platforms rubbing against her heels while she was walking to the train station, she did what any of us would do and changed into a more comfortable pair.
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However things went from bad to worse when a nasty blister started to form.
"It started off as my shoes rubbing on the back of my foot, it sort of broke the skin, like a cut," she explained.
"At some point it looked like it was forming a tiny blister. I had a plaster on because I didn't think it was anything significant but later I did notice it had a strange colour. It went downhill from there."
"I started noticing I couldn't walk properly and was limping and was in pain a lot more than normal. My foot had swollen right up and was travelling round my ankle area and the pain was absolutely awful," she added.
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"I just dropped to the floor in agony and that really hurt. It was getting more and more swollen."
Gemma was prescribed antibiotics by the doctors however in the end she ended up in A&E at Worthing Hospital, who sent her home when she couldn't find anything concerning.
She knew there was something seriously wrong the next morning though when she woke up feeling sick, and the end result was two days at Worthington Hospital where she was diagnosed and treated for sepsis and cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection.
"I know it can be fatal - the doctors told me I was lucky I had acted on it and went to check it out because it could have been more serious," she added.
Following her terrifying experience, Gemma is now speaking out to ensure other girls get help, even if they think they may be overreacting.
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She shared: "I thought if it's happened to me, I'd like to warm other people about it. I couldn't believe that something so insignificant could cause so much damage."
"I'm very lucky that my condition was spotted early," she added. "I've had that so many times, I just didn't think anything of it. So many times, especially with new shoes."
I'm thinking if it's happened to me, I'd like to warn other women about it, I want them to know if they do get a blister and feel bad, to trust their instincts and get it checked out."
We highly recommend you take her advice.
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