Factor V Leiden

When I was 14 years old, my father died at age 41 of massive pulmonary emboli (PE). At that time, there was no genetic testing to determine if he had a clotting disorder. I am 49 years old now, and I survived bilateral pulmonary emboli (PE) with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) one year ago. I…

My name is Alyssa and I was diagnosed with multiple pulmonary emboli (PEs) in January 2012 at the age of 21. I have finally gotten past the “I can’t believe this happened to me” stage and have finally adopted the “I can do something about this” attitude. My three-year anniversary of pulmonary emboli is coming up…

I discovered that I was heterozygous for the factor V Leiden mutation in June of 2000 after my mother tested positive during a workup for superficial thrombophlebitis. My primary care physician recommended that I be tested, since I was taking oral contraceptive pills. She also had a friend who had been recently diagnosed with factor…

Lori Preston, founding member of NBCA, learned of her inherited clotting disorder during pregnancy: “I remember the conversation as if it were yesterday. My mother shared with me the painful recollection of the loss of her stillborn son she delivered 14 months before she gave birth to me. We never talked about this sad experience again, not until…

It all started Friday January 13, 2013. It was an unusually nice day for January in Pennsylvania so I spent an hour or two picking up the back yard.  That evening I felt a small twinge in my right calf, and figured I must have slightly pulled a muscle. Over the next 3 days, the…

My name is Colleen Meredith and my first experience with blood clots occurred my second year of college after having a lobectomy (a surgical procedure that removes a lobe of one of the lungs). I was on my university’s soccer team for my university, and I felt like I was always ill to the point…

Why NBCA is Meaningful to Me – By Deirdre Callahan On Mother’s Day 1997, I developed a DVT (blood clot) in my femoral vein. I had been a mother for almost 2 weeks. When I called the hospital, they told me to make an appt. with my doctor in the morning — they didn’t think…

In October 2012, I started to feel a pain in my left calf. I immediately thought I pulled a muscle, so I tried stretching and even got new tennis shoes.  The pain would not go away and after about three weeks, and shortness of breath joined in. I had to take breaks walking to class…

When I was 23, no one knew of my genetics. My parents adopted me, and I had no medical history. For the most part, I had a healthy childhood. I had my fair share of broken bones, all in my arms and hands, from various sports. But I never had any complications, besides some lingering…

I am a healthy 23 year old who exercises 6 times a week, eats healthy food, and has never smoked. After returning from nearly a year overseas, I decided to change my lifestyle and lost nearly 20 kg (44 pounds) in the past 5 months. During this period I became really in tune with my…