Courtney Bailey, 19, from Manchester, says she nearly died after she cracked her tooth while playing with her dog – and revealed her partner made a life-saving phone call
A 19-year-old was left fighting for her life after she cracked her tooth and had to be rushed to the hospital for potentially life-saving treatment. Courtney Bailey, 19, revealed her horror health ordeal started when she accidentally broke her tooth after biting down on her tongue piercing while playing with her dog.
The young woman started vomiting and claimed her life was saved by a phone call her partner forced her to make. Courtney, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, had developed the deadly infection sepsis but revealed she was not immediately treated for it, despite rushing to the hospital after the shock incident.
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Courtney became “overstimulated” while playing with her chihuahua and accidentally bit down on her tongue piercing and cracked her tooth on April 5, 2025. She said her partner, Austin Hoy, 21, noticed her mouth started to swell but she went to bed believing it would get better.
Courtney, who runs a dog walking business, said her face had swollen even more when she woke up and had “trouble breathing” so she rushed to the hospital but was allegedly told they “couldn’t do anything” and was told to get an emergency dentist appointment.
She said the seemingly harmless bite caused an abscess, which made her vomit – spreading the infection from her gum to her throat. Overnight, her face became “five times the size” and she was struggling to breathe.
Back home Courtney was struggling to swallow food – due to the pain in her throat – and found herself being sick. This made the abscess worse and at her dentist appointment Courtney was told they couldn’t fix her tooth as she had an infection – and was instead given antibiotics.
Her worries worsened as she suffered from a terrifying allergic reaction to the tablets she was given.
Her partner, Austin Hoy, 21, a joiner, encouraged her to phone 111 on April 9, 2025 and Courtney said: “It was him who saved my life”. She added: “He said ‘if you don’t call 111 you’re going to die’. I said my throat was swollen. My heart was racing. I was going in and out of consciousness.”
The 19-year-old was rushed to the hospital again and was eventually told she had sepsis and had to have an operation to remove the infection in her throat. If she had come to hospital and hour and a half later she could have lost her life, she claims medics warned.
Courtney said: “I looked like Quagmire from Family Guy. My face was five times the size. It could have cost me my life. The hospital said if I’d been an hour and half later I wouldn’t had survived.”
She said: “It felt like my entire body was burning.” Courtney was put on a drip and sent to a different hospital and told she needed an operation which she underwent on April 11, 2025.
The 19-year-old recalled: “They put two little pipes in my throat. I had a colostomy bag on my throat while the fluid drained.” Courtney spent three more days in hospital while her the fluid drained and went home on April 14.
Now she wants to raise awareness of the symptoms of sepsis – such as hot sweats, loss of appetite, disorientation and timid breathing. She said: “It didn’t phase me at the time. I kept my head held high. Looking back it was generally the scariest thing.”
