PE

In the summer of 2019, I was on vacation with my family at Hilton Head Island. On the second night of the trip, I felt an excruciating pain in my chest while lying in bed. Although it was troubling, I decided not to wake my wife or take other action, and the pain passed after…

In 2018, when I was 21 years old and just over three months postpartum, I was diagnosed with multiple pulmonary emboli (PE). I started having trouble breathing in the early evening which I assumed was just my asthma acting up. This continued all through the night and into the morning. I was using my asthma…

I had COVID for the first time in November of 2020. My symptoms were typical: fatigue, loss of appetite, and shortness of breath.    Once I recovered, I had ongoing yet mild shortness of breath, so when it started happening more frequently, I wrote it off as just a symptom of long COVID. Looking back, I…

In March 2022, while going about my everyday activities, I suddenly experienced extreme breathlessness. It felt like someone had hit me, and my heart was beating out of my chest.    I’m a single parent, and my then –7-year-old found me on the bed. There was no ambulance available to get to me; I was told…

In December of 2022, I had surgery on my femur. Five days later, I felt an excruciating pain in my calf and knew something was wrong. I went to the ER and was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) that occluded almost my whole leg. I was prescribed  blood thinners and I’ve been taking them…

My cousin, who was 22, died of a pulmonary embolism when I was 10 years old. At autopsy, she was found to have protein C resistance, explained by the factor V Leiden mutation. As this mutation is genetic, the whole family was tested. I was found to be a carrier of this mutation, and I…

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…

My first issue with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) began in November of 2022. My family and I went on a five-hour road trip to Disneyland. A week after returning home, I began to develop a charley horse cramp in my right calf.    I assumed I had pulled a muscle somehow. I tried massage and…