Emma Straker’s sudden death on 4th October 2013, just two weeks after her 19th birthday, sparked a campaign to raise awareness of the blood infection.

Mum Tracy, dad Allan and sister Michelle have spoken about their sorrow for Amanda Prowse’s new book, Three and a Half Heartbeats, about a family who lose their child to sepsis.

Tracy (47) said, “Amanda is an ambassador for the UK Sepsis Trust and wanted to write a book, and asked if we would be happy to speak to her.

“We went to meet her and told her our story and what we were going through – she wanted to get the right emotion in the book and wanted background on how sepsis affected families.

“It doesn’t get any easier. We can talk about it sometimes, other times, you can’t. You have to be in the right frame.

“The last few months, her friends have been turning 21 as well, they’re all going into their last year at university and going to graduations next year.

“For us it’s difficult – when you’re not busy, that’s the sort of thing you’re thinking about.

“But you do things like this to raise awareness – you have to think, what can I do to help other families from that heartache.” Sepsis kills 37,000 Brits each year and Emma’s family and friends teamed up with the UK Sepsis Trust to launch a national campaign in April 2014.

A JustGiving page and a #kissgoodbyetosepsis selfie project on Twitter – featuring her trademark red lips – raised thousands of pounds, with this year’s drive reaching nearly seven million people on Twitter, including celebrity chef James Martin, presenters Ant and Dec, and author Amanda Prowse.

The cash has helped supply GP surgeries across Fife with information packs, posters and leaflets on sepsis.

The proceeds of the book will go towards the UK Sepsis Trust, but Emma’s family is already seeing the fruits of their fund-raising in action.

Tracy said, “When people talk about sepsis, they talk about Emma as well.

“People are more aware of sepsis than ever before because of all the fund-raising events that we do.

“There was a receptionist who came up and got some of the leaflets and posters for her GP surgery.

“Not too long after they actually recognised someone they suspected had sepsis – the person got taken up to hospital where it was confirmed.

“Another woman thought she was coming down with a bad flu and was prescribed antiobiotics but they didn’t work.

“She’d had sepsis before and saw another doctor and got super-antibiotics, or she would have gone into septic shock.

“Most people with sepsis think they’re just feeling run down – the symptoms are similar to cold or flu, and how many people are going to see their doctor about that?

“That’s why it’s important that we keep raising awareness, because we don’t want other families to go through what we’ve been through.”