Christina Flach remembers her husband by raising awareness for sepsis

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—It's been one year since Christina Flach unexpectedly lost her husband Ken to sepsis, a life-threatening condition that progressed from pneumonia. The four-time Grand Slam doubles champion was only 54.

"It's like everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Christina Flach told TENNIS.com. "Maybe because I'm so brokenhearted and so in shock that I am on a mission now.

"If my husband wasn't Ken Flach, no one would be talking to me. I wouldn't be able to save lives and make a difference."

Christina Flach is spreading the message about sepsis awareness, with non-profit Sepsis Alliance putting up posters and banners around California to educate people about the dangers. Just days before his death, Ken was a strong, healthy and athletic father of four children.

A poster in a BART station in San Francisco, with Ken Flach's picture at left.

Ken Flach is a well-known name in the tennis community for his decorated doubles career. He won 28 of his 34 doubles titles with Robert Seguso, along with an Olympic gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

"Ken would joke that Rob was his first wife," says Christina. "Rob has been such a good support system. He spent so much time with Ken—since they were 16 they were playing together. As awful as this has been, I'm really grateful that I have that."

A tennis great, Ken was most proud of his golf game. In 2017, he won the first annual ATP Member Golf tournament in Indian Wells with a score of 65. He was planning to return to the desert last year to defend his title before getting sick. This year, the champion's trophy was named in his honor.

Ken Flach, right, with Rob Seguso, after winning Wimbledon in 1987.

According to Sepsis Alliance, sepsis is the third leading cause of death in the United States—and yet only 58 percent of Americans have heard of it. Mortality can increase by as much as eight percent for every hour of delayed treatment. What you think may be just a cold can turns out to be bronchitis, which can become pneumonia. At that point, sepsis can set in if left untreated.

As high as 80 percent of deaths from sepsis are preventable, especially if caught early. A treatable bacterial blood infection, sepsis can be detected with a thorough exam and blood tests. Whoopi Goldberg just revealed she survived sepsis after pneumonia spread to both of her lungs.

Others, like Ken, were not as fortunate.

"With sepsis, we had no idea what that was," says Christina. "If I had any idea I would have had him in the ER the night before, but he kept say, 'Oh I'm fine. I just feel crappy, I'll go to sleep.'"

Ken Flach with his wife, Christina.

Ken would still be alive if doctors had run sepsis tests and caught it in time. He was taking cough syrup and was diagnosed over the phone, and waited another night before going to the ER, coughing up blood.

"He was on life support in two hours," says Christina. "Doctors said they'd intubate and clear out his lungs. I didn't even know it was life support. I didn't expect that was the last time that we would speak."

When sepsis progresses far enough, it causes body organ failure and restricts blood flow to the limbs, turning hands and feet black. Had Ken lived, he would have lost his arms and legs. When his life support was turned off, he was gone in under a minute.

"A lot of times people go to the doctor and they're like you have a cold, just wait," Christina says. "You can't wait with sepsis. It's pivotal that you go and get seen and get the blood tests, and you'll survive.

"Ken wasn't seen and it's tragic. I couldn't even save him. I don't want anyone else to lose their husband."