DVT

Watch a video of Joanna’s story here.  I am a miracle in motion, and my story is one of ongoing survival and transformation of finding beauty that fuels me in life’s most challenging moments. I didn’t know much about blood clots until three of them nearly took my life — an unexpected complication after a…

A week after I delivered my beautiful, Covid baby in August 2020, my identity as a lifelong runner changed forever. I was diagnosed with a DVT and admitted to a New Mexico hospital. I felt like my baby had been ripped from me. Covid visitation prevented my husband Dan or my baby from seeing me.…

I am a keen runner and I live in a national park in Wales, so I regularly run by myself in the hills. This is my happy place. Last year I ran for Wales for the first time, representing my country doing what I love, which was an incredible feeling. In early January of this…

I am a 24-year-old  old active and healthy woman. No real elevated risk factors for clots. I never thought it would be me. I had underwent an ablation, minimally invasive procedure to treat supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), which is an abnormally fast heart rate originating in the upper chambers of the heart (atria). They said that my SVT…

In January 2025, I collapsed at A&E (the emergency department in the UK) with chest pain and a racing heart (tachycardia.) I have a history of arrhythmias and spent three days in the hospital for tests, and was put on medication for arrhythmia before being discharged. I was due to have a follow-up and was…

On October 6, 2024, at 36 weeks pregnant, I found myself in the emergency department of the hospital where I began and ended my bedside nursing career. My shortness of breath and elevated heart rate, which could have easily been attributed to pregnancy itself, were soon discovered to be due to a submassive saddle pulmonary…

In April 2020, at the peak of COVID, I started experiencing pain in my lower back. During a walk with friends, a sharp pain would shoot down my right leg with every step. I tried to ignore the pain and continued the walk. Later that evening, my leg started to swell, and the pain got…

On March 31, 2023, while playing high school softball, an opposing player slid into me, breaking my tibia and fibula. I was taken to a nearby hospital via ambulance where I underwent surgery the next morning. My leg had some swelling over the next couple of months, but it was never bothersome until June 8.…

At the age of 20, two weeks after giving birth to my beautiful baby girl, I had extreme pain in my lower calf and could barely move. It was swollen, red, and hot to the touch, and heavy. I was frightened! I went to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with a DVT and hospitalized…

In April 2024, while training for a half marathon, I experienced an unprovoked deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in my right arm. I had been consistently running since the start of the year in preparation for a May race and decided to cross-train with light weights for one week. After lifting on Tuesday and Wednesday, I…