NBCA Volunteer President Leslie Lake recently sat down with AARP to share her personal experience with blood clots—a story that highlights the urgent need for awareness, early detection, and advocacy.
AARP, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older, reaches approximately 38 million readers each month, making it an invaluable platform for educating people about life-threatening blood clots.
“I was coming back from the dry cleaner near my apartment, coming up a little incline that I’d walked thousands of times before,” she said. “All of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe. It literally felt as if someone had put their hands around my neck and squeezed all of the oxygen out of my body. I thought I was having a heart attack.”
Leslie described the hours-long ordeal of getting diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and how she was discharged with no resources on how to move forward. This information gap led her to NBCA.
“I was given a second chance, and so I want to make sure that I can pay that forward,” she said. “I feel privileged now to be in a situation now where I’m sitting here today in the hope that I’ll reach somebody and save their life.”
We’re grateful to AARP for helping us bring this critical conversation to a wider audience. Every story shared has the power to save lives. Watch the full video here.
