Man

Update (July 29, 2024): I was excited to make my professional triathlon debut in Maine this past weekend, competing as the only athlete in the field with Factor V and needing to take blood thinners twice a day. It was a non-wetsuit swim, and I was really happy with my bike split on one of…

My name is Katie, and I am Jordan’s widow. He and I were married for 12 years. Jordan died unexpectedly of a massive pulmonary embolism (PE) on July 8, 2020.   He survived his first unprovoked deep vein thrombosis (DVT) to PE in October 2019. He ignored symptoms of right thigh pain, swelling, redness, and warmth.…

It started in 2013 with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in my right leg and a pulmonary embolism (PE). After walking around on a sore and swollen leg for a while, I experienced severe shortness of breath after climbing two flights of stairs.    My brother took me to the hospital, where I was treated and placed…

In the summer of 2022, I started having shortness of breath but thought nothing of it. I had just run an 18-mile trail race the Saturday before, and it can take a few days for your body to feel normal again. A little coughing and sore throat from running in the dirt for four hours…

I had an injury to my forearm in June 2022. Less than a week later, I started getting severe chest pains. I was taken to the hospital with c-reactive protein test (CRP) markers of 93 and was sent home with antibiotics.   A week later, I experienced the same pain, but worse. This time a CT…

One week before my diagnosis, I noticed I was getting weak. Not weakness from being tired, but unusually weak without cause (I thought).   I also had a nagging cough and was constantly clearing my throat. I began to presume that I had caught the coronavirus, so I started doctoring myself. After a few days, I…

I had abdominal surgery in July 2020 and had a difficult recovery. I could barely move. On Sunday, October 18, 2020, I woke and showered. I was home alone — my wife was visiting her brother. While climbing the stairs back to our bedroom, I became extremely short of breath.   Despite that, I made my…

I am a 39-year-old Native American. I have had 23 pulmonary emboli (PE) and 31 incidents of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) starting at age 22, caused by the factor V Leiden mutation. I also have congenital protein C and S deficiencies.   Nurses say I’m a miracle and call me a medical anomaly. Doctors ask…

Everything felt normal, but I was left gasping after walking up a hill carrying a bucket of water. Something was wrong. I was subtly winded after golfing and climbing stairs, but I paid no attention. I thought it could be allergies. The next day, walking up that same hill with the bucket, I was out…

I was first diagnosed with pulmonary emboli (PE), or blood clots in my lungs, on October 23, 2017. Doctors told me it was a miracle that I did not go into cardiac arrest and die because the clots in both lungs were the size of baseballs. I was rushed into emergency surgery to remove the…