As told by her mother Charita
My daughter Sydney’s blood clots began in 2020 after driving six hours to Mississippi and back to visit her cousins for a week. The very next morning after returning home, she told me she was out of breath and her leg was hurting badly and had a cramping feeling.
I knew immediately what was happening to her as I had been there before. I, her mom, was hospitalized when Sydney was 9 years old with a severe DVT and PE. I immediately got her to the hospital to be checked out.
During that visit, they did an ultrasound and found a clot that had traveled to her lungs. They immediately placed her on apixaban and told her she only had to take it for three months. I thought it strange that they were only putting her on blood thinners for three months. They said they were doing this because of her age.
In addition to myself, my sister and cousins on my mom’s side also have a history of blood clots as well as protein S deficiency, but we went with the three months they had suggested.
Two years went by. In the spring of 2023, I woke up one morning to hearing Sydney downstairs coughing a really strange, wet-sounding cough.
I knew immediately it was happening again. I got dressed and got her to the hospital. This time they kept her and had to perform an emergency procedure. She was hospitalized for five days and diagnosed with a saddle pulmonary embolism.
The procedure was successful and after they released her she was to be on blood thinners for the rest of her life. The doctors, myself, and my sister all explained to her the seriousness of this and that she had to take this medication every day from now on.
A few more months went by and one morning she came into my room and said, “Mom, It’s happening again.” I asked her if she had missed some days of her medication, but she said no. Sydney passed on November 24, 2023.
She was very tall — 6 feet — and a beautiful soul inside and out. She was funny, a good person, and a giving person. She loved children and worked as a teacher at Trinity Early Learning Center in Atlanta.
During middle and high school, she participated in competitive cheerleading for the Stingray Allstars for six years. Oh, how she loved that! She also cheered for football and basketball at Walton High School.
Sydney had been learning and practicing to be a DJ and worked gigs under the name “DJ SYDUATION.” She said to me, “Mom, things are really looking up for me at work. I got a bonus check today and I have four DJ gigs coming up in December.” She passed the same day.
Sydney was my only child and she lived with me. She was 27 years old and had so much more life ahead of her. My world is broken, torn apart. My entire family and I are totally devastated.
My advice to others is to pay attention if you have a charley horse or cramp in your leg. Try flexing your foot and if that doesn’t fix it and you begin to feel out of breath, seek help immediately.
