Patient Stories

Shawna was never too keen on going to the doctor. By her own admission, she did so fairly infrequently.  So, it came as quite a shock when she found herself at her doctor’s office, and surrounded by no less than three physicians, waiting for an ambulance to transport her to the hospital. “I didn’t go…

It was mid-March in 2009, and spring was just a few days away. The weather was inviting, but Debbe McCall didn’t take her daily walk that morning. She woke up that day to her heart racing.  A quick check with her blood pressure cuff showed that her pulse was 121 beats per minute, and her…

  My name is Melanie Gravley, and I am 23. This story is about my husband, Jamie Lee, who lost his life due to a pulmonary embolism (PE) in June 2012 at age 22. We were together since June 20, 2007, married on Sept 3, 2010, and welcomed a son on May 20, 2011. We…

  Tara Robison was startled at age 20 by 21 blood clots in her lungs. She was misdiagnosed at first, but her persistence in seeking further care saved her life. In June 2010, I felt a pain in the right side of my upper chest that I thought at first was just gas pain.  I…

I was a healthy 25-year-old who ran numerous half marathons, sprint triathlons, and I am also an active Crossfitter. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I’d battle life-threatening blood clots in my calf (deep vein thrombosis/DVT) and lungs (pulmonary embolism/PE). I noticed lingering calf pain in my left leg in September 2011. There…

If someone would have told me a year ago that my birth control pills were killing me, I would have laughed. At 25 years old, I was on the top of my game. Professionally, I had just started my dream job six weeks prior as a meteorologist at NBC 6 in Miami. Physically, I was…

I noticed I had a cough that would not go away in November 2007. I knew it wasn’t a cold, because I didn’t have any other symptoms of a cold.  I went to my doctor the next month, and she couldn’t identify a cause.  She suggested that I try allergy medication for a week, but…

Cassie Sheffield and her birth family were affected by blood clots, and discovered that the family has a genetic blood clotting disorder, Antithrombin (AT) III deficiency, that carries a high risk for blood clots.  Cassie not only developed multiple pulmonary emboli in her teenage years, she learned that her mother and two brothers had AT…

Samara McAuliffe gave birth to a daughter by what she thought was an uncomplicated C-section until she developed a pulmonary embolism eleven days later. I gave birth by emergency C-section in 2006 to a son, and the surgery was life-saving for both of us.  My daughter was born by a routine C-section on Christmas Eve,…

Mr. E. Anonymous was healthy and active when he had an unexplained DVT while he was pursuing a Master’s degree in Physical Education.  His DVT detoured him from his goal, and he was also laid off from his job soon after, so he is coping with many unforeseen events. I was a completely healthy 29…