A North Texas beauty queen is using her platform to start a conversation about a medical issue you may have never considered.
When Julia Fraser was 18 years old, the otherwise healthy teenager went into septic shock, the result of an untreated urinary tract infection.
Sepsis is when your immune system has an extreme reaction to an infection.
Ring video shows her the night her organs began to fail and she had to be rushed to the hospital.
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"My kidneys were failing and other organs were starting to shut down, which is why I had gone into a seizure. At that point, it was terrifying," said Fraser, who is now 23-years-old.
Fraser survived the ordeal and says it wasn't until after the incident that she decided to enter the pageant world as a way to raise awareness about how urinary tract infections can lead to sepsis if left untreated.
The current Mrs. Frisco International works closely with the Sepsis Alliance.
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"So many women around me have had urinary tract infections and when I tell them that it nearly killed me, the look on their face is horrifying," said Fraser.
"If I can ultimately spread awareness by telling my story and letting these other women know, I can hopefully stop them from ever having to go through what I went through," said Fraser.
Fraser often posts sepsis awareness information on her Instagram page.
