Woman's Husband Dies from Septic Shock on Wedding Anniversary (Exclusive)

Karen McNulty and Dominic McNulty got married on Aug. 25, 2017

Karen Mcnulty

Aug. 25 will always hold a complicated place in Karen McNulty's heart: it's the day she first met her husband Dominic, the day they got married — and the day he died.

The pair first crossed paths in 2010 through mutual friends. Before Karen even knew what Dominic looked like, he called her. They spent hours on the phone laughing, and from that day on, they were "inseparable," she recalls in an exclusive chat with PEOPLE.

In 2017, after seven years of dating, they got married. In 2021, they welcomed a son, Dominic Jr, and in mid-2023 they found out they were expecting another baby.

"I was the luckiest woman in the world. I was living my dream," says Karen, now 37. "I really won the lottery of life. We had a growing family. We were soulmates. We are soulmates, and it was taken from me within hours."

Karen Mcnulty

Things started to go downhill on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. Dominic, a project supervisor for a contracting company, had been working long hours for days prior. That night, he came home late from work, sang songs with their son as he put him to bed — the last interaction they would ever have — and then woke up at 5 a.m. for work the next day.

Around 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 23, Karen received a text from Dominic: "My body feels like I’ve been hit by a bus, LOL," he wrote. Karen recalls, "He didn’t say he was sick; I just assumed he was tired."

Karen responded, advising him to take it easy. Dominic, who had a compromised immune system from multiple sclerosis, mentioned he was trying to find someone to fill in for him at hockey that night, which he never missed. By around 3:30 p.m., Dominic decided to go home and rest.

From there, his condition worsened: he began throwing up constantly. Karen did her best to keep him hydrated as he vomited throughout the night.

"I kept asking if he wanted to go to the hospital, and he kept saying no," Karen says.

Karen Mcnulty

By Thursday morning, Dominic had stopped throwing up, and seemed to be improving throughout the day. Karen noticed he was sleeping a lot though at one point, found him sitting up in bed complaining about arm pain. He attributed the discomfort to sleeping on it.

As the day went on, Karen continued with her routine, picking up their son from daycare, doing bath time and preparing for bed. Around 8:30 p.m., she checked on Dominic again.

"I walked in and saw him rolled in a ball, looking very pale," she recalls. "He was sweating, his hair was soaked, and his eyes were open but not focused. He was throwing up again. I asked, 'Dom, what’s going on?' "

Karen asked him to lift his arm. Dominic tried but his right arm just fell limply. Panicking, she decided he needed to go to the hospital, and she called his parents.

"I thought it would be better for my in-laws to take him to the hospital because my son was sleeping and I didn't want to waste time preparing bottles and telling them what to do when he wakes up and all that stuff," she says. "I didn't think it was that serious. I thought like, 'Okay, his arm, maybe something with the MS.' "

Her in-laws took Dominic to the hospital, where doctors ran tests and performed surgery, suspecting an intestinal issue. It wasn't until later they'd learn that his body had gone into septic shock from a rare bacterial infection.

"The last time I ever heard his voice, he called me right before surgery, and it was from my mother-in-law's phone. I answered, and he said, 'I love you. I love you,' " Karen says.

On Friday morning, Karen went to the hospital. Her mother-in-law had warned her about Dominic’s condition: he was hooked up to a ventilator, with numerous tubes attached. Karen thought she was prepared; her father had undergone open-heart surgery, and she had seen him in a similar state. But nothing could have truly readied her for what she encountered.

Dominic was in the last bed in the ICU, and the walk to see him felt like the longest of her life, she remembers. Her husband looked lifeless, his eyes open but glazed over, his body covered with tubes. Dominic, always an athlete, now appeared vulnerable. Karen remembers trying to stay strong. She told him, "Dom, I'm here. The surgery went great."

The doctors were still trying to determine why his arm was limp, asking if he had been hit by a hockey puck, which could be related to an infection in his stomach. A team of doctors examined his arm, waving a device over it, unable to find a pulse. The uncertainty was too much for Karen; she fainted and collapsed. Her mother-in-law caught her, and, due to her early pregnancy, she was taken to the ER for her safety. (Later on, she'd have a miscarriage from the stress.)

After receiving care, she rushed back to Dominic’s side, and doctors explained that he'd developed blood clots — one in his arm, one in his buttocks — and his body was producing more.

"They went to perform a second surgery to remove a blood clot," she says. "I remember hearing the doctors and nurses say, 'His kidneys are quivering. We need to move quickly.' I saw the concern on their faces. They wheeled him into surgery and told us it would take about 20 minutes. I went to the waiting room with a blanket and pulled it over my head, knowing things weren’t looking good."

"Within minutes, the nurses came in and said, 'Mrs. McNulty, we need to talk to you.' I screamed, 'No, I’m not talking to you. Go in there and do whatever you can,' ” she continues. “I don’t remember much after that. My sisters helped me into the hallway and told me he wasn’t going to make it. I couldn’t accept it — I kept yelling and screaming, saying, ‘I’m pregnant. We have a little boy at home.’ I remember a doctor came out and told me plainly, 'He’s going to die.' I refused to believe it. They couldn’t proceed with the surgery because his body was too weak."

Karen Mcnulty

Staff rolled Dominic back to the ICU where his five best friends, his parents and Karen's family were waiting. Around noon, doctors broke the news that he wasn't going to make it. The group of loved ones waited for his brother to come from Massachusetts before making the decision to take him off the ventilator; he died at 6:30 p.m. Friday evening. He was 40 years old.

"I think all the memories we have were flashing through, and my son was going through my mind — how is he not going to be the little league coach, and how he's not going to be able to watch my son grow up?" Karen says. "A million thoughts were going through my head, and I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. It was the hardest. It was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt in my life."

"I thought how fragile life is. You can't save this man. He's healthy. My husband was the type to work out every day and every day he woke up. He made the most of every day. He was the most productive person. He renovated our whole house himself. He played sports. He was athletic. And why to this good person, he's such a great person and a great father, and how can life just be taken like this with no warning?"

For days after her husband died, Karen lay in bed with her two sisters and her mom, consumed by grief, unable to plan Dominic's funeral. Family handled the arrangements, and more than 1,000 people showed up to remember Dominic together.

While all of this was going on her son, who was almost 2 at the time, stayed with Karen's brother and sister-in-law for about a week.

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"When my son came back home, I wanted to move my husband’s truck because I didn’t want him to think Daddy was coming home," Karen recalls.

"I told him Daddy was in heaven, and that’s what I still say," she continues. "When he asks where Daddy is, he says, 'In heaven.' I’ve had my husband’s truck for a while now, and he always knew it was Daddy’s truck. Recently, he asked, 'Whose car is that?' I said, 'That’s Daddy’s truck.' I think he’s starting to forget. As he gets older, I’ll explain more."

Karen Mcnulty

Before Dominic's death, Karen would often create Instagram Reels of him with Dominic Jr. In recent months, a friend suggested she share his story on TikTok. Initially, she wasn’t sure, but she was desperate to find someone who could relate to her experience as a young widow.

She began by using hashtags like #widow, #widowlife, #youngwidow, and #septicshock. Her intention was to help others while also continuing her own journaling process, sharing videos of her husband and son and finding a community that understood her unique experience. Never did she think one of her videos would go viral, garnering more than 8.5 million views.

"It’s incredibly touching because the story means so much to me, and seeing it reach others is overwhelming," she says.

"I've even had a nurse from the ICU where my husband was treated message me," she adds. "I’ve also received messages from people saying things like, 'Hi, I’m the wife of the man buried next to your husband,' and others have reached out to me, including widows and widowers."

"Reading comments from people who have survived septic shock or who didn’t even know what it was has been eye-opening," she adds. "It’s clear that there needs to be more awareness about this condition. If sharing my story helps even one person, then it’s worth it."

Although a year has passed, Karen continues to grieve. Slowly, she is coming to terms with the fact that her husband is gone.

"I thought Christmas or his birthday would be the hardest, and they were indeed very difficult, but Father’s Day hit me the hardest," she says. "I felt devastated because he should be here. Out of everything in the world, he should be a father. He was born to be a father. It feels like both my son and my husband were robbed of that, and that’s the hardest part."

"Losing anyone at any age is hard, but losing a spouse — especially a young spouse so suddenly — is something few people can relate to," she adds. "In the beginning, I felt very lonely and isolated. It was like the rug had been pulled out from under me. Seeing people announce pregnancies and other joyful news on Facebook, while I was genuinely happy for them, felt like a stark contrast to my own loss."

"They say time heals, but it’s funny — some days I feel like I’ll never accept this, and other days I think I’m starting to come to terms with it," she adds. "I guess you learn to navigate the pain a bit better over time."