Misdiagnosed

My name is Kathy and I survived pulmonary emboli in 2003. I remember as young as 12 years old feeling pain in my chest. When I asked in 1979 it was dismissed as growing pains. When I asked a doctor in 1989 I was told it was panic attacks. I spent years thinking that I…

Up until my senior year of high school, I hardly had a worry in the world. Just like many other seventeen year olds, I was looking forward to my spring break, summer vacation, and beginning college. In April of 2012, my life took a turn for the worst. I began missing school because of unknown…

I had just graduated from college and I was moving back home to Helena, MT to start my career as a registered nurse. I woke up one morning and noticed pain in my left shoulder. I thought I had slept wrong or pulled a muscle. The pain continued for the next few days. I noticed…

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…

The personal story below is intended for informational purposes only. The National Blood Clot Alliance (NBCA) holds the rights to all content that appears on its website. The use by another organization or online group of any content on NBCA’s website, including the patient stories that appear here, does not imply that NBCA is connected…

Note: This is Jason’s story as told by his mother, Becky Hilty This story is about my son Jason Michael Hilty, born November 9, 1988. Jason died of a DVT on September 20, 2008. He was 19 and a second year student at Auburn University in Alabama. Jason had been complaining of pain in his…

If someone would have told me a year ago that my birth control pills were killing me, I would have laughed. At 25 years old, I was on the top of my game. Professionally, I had just started my dream job six weeks prior as a meteorologist at NBC 6 in Miami. Physically, I was…

Cassie Sheffield and her birth family were affected by blood clots, and discovered that the family has a genetic blood clotting disorder, Antithrombin (AT) III deficiency, that carries a high risk for blood clots.  Cassie not only developed multiple pulmonary emboli in her teenage years, she learned that her mother and two brothers had AT…

Brianne Paisley is pregnant and has Protein C deficiency.  She had a large DVT in her groin during this pregnancy for which she self-injected with low molecular weight heparin, but is now awaiting the birth of her second child. My name is Brianne Paisley, and I want to share my story with anyone and everyone…

Jessica Phillips survived a life-threatening PE right after giving birth to her fourth child.  Her DVT symptoms were overlooked and a massive PE ensued, so her OB doctor introduced many changes in her practice to prevent DVT and PE after Jessica’s near death. On October 29 2010, I gave birth by C-section to my fourth…