As told by her daughter Pellayia
My mother passed away June 22, 1998 of a pulmonary embolism. It was sudden. I left for university that morning and got a call in between classes that I needed to come home right away.
I told my cousin that I had a quiz and couldn’t. He kept insisting. I don’t remember much of the drive home. I do remember pulling into our driveway and seeing multiple cars there. I knew something was wrong. I passed out when my family told me.
We had an autopsy done. The diagnosis was a pulmonary embolism.
I found out after her death that we have different clotting factors. I have protein C and S deficiency and I also have the sickle cell trait. I remember when I was younger my mother saying we had “thicker” blood. It didn’t occur to me until after. She had a cold the week before and wasn’t as active. She was also a smoker.
I’m a registered nurse now. I am more aware of symptoms of a blood clot with myself, my patients or others. During both of my pregnancies I had to be on blood thinners. With any cold or surgery that I have had, I make sure to keep moving and not sit for long periods of time.
My advice is to educate yourself on signs and symptoms of clots and always tell the people you love how much you love them.
