Who is Craig Mackinlay’s wife Kati? Meet partner of the bionic MP who lost limbs to sepsis
MP Craig Mackinlay has spoken for the first time since losing four limbs to sepsis – and has branded himself the “bionic MP”.
The 57-year-old credited his pharmacist wife Kati for noticing his arms go cold before calling an ambulance.
But who are Craig and Kati Mackinlay and what did the MP suffer from?
Who is Craig Mackinlay MP?
Craig Mackinlay was a chartered account before entering politics in the early 1990s.
He joined what was then the Anti-Federalist Party which became UKIP.
By 1999, he was UKIP’s interim leader and contested elections at a European and parliamentary level.
He left to join the Conservatives in 2005 over concerns about the direction UKIP was heading and became a councillor in Chatham in 2007.
At the 2015 General Election, he narrowly beat UKIP’s Nigel Farage and the comedian Al Murray to win South Thanet.
Who is Craig Mackinlay’s wife Kati?
Craig is married to Kati, a community pharmacist originally from Hungary.
The couple have a daughter called Olivia.
On his website, Craig said the couple enjoy travelling as much as possible.
They also like sailing.
What illness did Craig Mackinlay suffer from?
Kati fought back tears on Tuesday as she recalled how medics gave Craig a five percent chance of survival when he got sepsis.
The family’s ordeal began on September 27 when Craig began feeling unwell.
Despite being badly sick overnight he thought nothing until worried Kati tested his blood pressure and temperature.
By the morning Craig’s arms were stone cold and Kati couldn’t feel a pulse – he was rushed to his local hospital in Medway, Kent, where he was put in an induced coma for 16 days.
He recalled: “Within about half an hour I went this very, very strange blue… my whole body, top to bottom, ears everything – blue.
“That is a septic shock. It is when you are having a very severe septic event.”
Despite medics at St Thomas’ Hospital in London saying Craig was “one of the illest people they’ve ever seen”, Kati never lost hope.
She told GB News: “I must admit, I never said ‘goodbye’, I never thought that was it for Craig.
“In the first two days, it was difficult to deal with the idea of, is it really happening or is it a nightmare?
“Then the reality hits after about 48 hours that this is not something you can wake up from.
“I turned deep and I always knew Craig would pull through, and he did. It became clear there would be some kind of limb loss, that was clear after about seven to ten days.”
On December 1 Craig had both hands and feet amputated and said he felt “surprisingly stoic” about the life-changing surgery.
As well as losing limbs the sepsis has caused scarring on Craig’s face and gums, leaving his front teeth loose.
He has since had to adapt to his four new prosthetic limbs and on February 28 was able to walk his first 20 steps unaided.
The loss of his hands is a “real loss” but he is feeling upbeat about the future and plans to fight his seat – set to be renamed Thanet East – at the next election.
He said: “When children come to Parliament’s fantastic education centre I want them to be pulling their parents’ jacket or skirts or their teacher and saying: ‘I want to see the bionic MP today’.”