Man

I had my first deep vein thrombosis when I was 18. I was training for the military and was very active, doing lots of weightlifting and running. One day, I had extreme pain and swelling in my groin and right leg. Even with those symptoms, I was stubborn and waited four days before getting it…

I am a trail runner, CrossFitter, MMA/jiu jitsu player, and mountaineer. I trained hard, ate clean, and slept enough so that I could maximize both my performance and longevity.  I was a hybrid athlete balancing strength and endurance. Then I twisted my knee at jiu jitsu camp. I needed a meniscus repair, which caused massive…

I woke at about 3 a.m. with the most intense stabbing pain in the right-hand side of my chest, towards the back. I assumed that I had slept funny and that I had simply trapped a nerve or something. The pain was unbelievable, though. I took acetaminophen but it did nothing. At 8 a.m., the…

I woke up in the middle of the night and could barely breathe, so I booked an appointment with my local urgent care for the next morning. They took an X-ray of my lungs for pneumonia, but it was clear, so I was sent home. A couple weeks later, I got a sharp pain in…

I am lucky to be alive. On a recent Wednesday morning, I went to the emergency room with chest pains and shortness of breath. After many tests and a CT scan, they said I had a blood clot in my lungs, another pulmonary embolism. This was my third time. The doctor said that one out…

About nine months ago, I was diagnosed with a DVT from my upper thigh down to my calf. The diagnosis was lupus anticoagulant, an auto immune disorder that requires me to be on blood thinners for life. I am an avid cyclist, doing up to 100 miles per week. At first my hematologist told me…

We had been traveling throughout the Great Smoky Mountains looking for our forever home. We got back home to Florida, and on Sept. 3, 2020 at 10 p.m. I walked less than 100 feet to put the garbage on the curb. I looked up at the night stars and thought about how God did such…

I had been going about my normal routine at work and home. I awoke one day with cold symptoms. The next day was a tad worse, so I got some cold medicine. I went to work as usual and was carrying a ladder when — boom — I felt dizzy and winded and I was…

I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism in 2013 as a side effect of steroids I was taking for nephrotic syndrome, a kidney disorder. I was on warfarin for two years until my doctor advised me to stop taking it. In March 2023, I had sudden pain in my left leg that was the worst…

I’m a survivor of two pulmonary emboli. I’m finally making gains to restore “normal life” after years of small gains and constant setbacks. Before my pulmonary emboli in January 2016, I was healthy and ran lots of races. I thought it was an isolated incident and I wouldn’t get another one. It’s strange how life…