PE

Everything started when I was 16 years old, which was six years ago. I couldn’t breathe, and even while walking a few steps, I was out of breath. I was taken to the hospital for what they thought was a chest infection. They did not think it was blood clots because I was so young.…

My story began after a total right hip replacement at 36 years old. What was supposed to be a routine and life-changing surgery, due to only being in my thirties, turned out very differently. I developed a rare, but serious complication that resulted in the loss of my right quadriceps function. I had no feeling,…

At just 23 years old, I have suffered with not only a DVT (deep vein thrombosis or blood clot in the leg), but also a PE (pulmonary embolism or blood clot in the lung). I was taking estrogen-based birth control pills for two years when I had a visit with my primary care physician due…

One spring morning in 2016, I woke up from a long, deep sleep in my California apartment. I turned on the morning Los Angeles news and saw that the musician Prince had died. I also simultaneously realized, in that moment, that I could not feel my toes in my right foot. I had been limping…

At 23 years old, I never thought I would be lying in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors who were baffled by one of the youngest cases of blood clots in the lung that they had ever seen. It was the summer of 2014, and my husband and I had just bought our first home…

One year ago, I was diagnosed with a massive blood clot in my lung. It occurred when I was away for the long Martin Luther King Jr. weekend on a ski trip in New York. Early that weekend, on a Saturday, I had a minor fall getting off of the lifts. I injured both of…

I am 19 years old right now, and in my second year of university. The school I attend is about 3.5 to 4 hours from home, so I live on my own with a few friends. In the beginning of November 2019, when I was still 18 years old, I started coughing a lot and…

When I was 19 years old, during the first week of my sophomore year of college, I awoke one morning with a strange, tight pain in my right shoulder. I assumed I had just slept on it funny, and continued about my day as usual. The pain didn’t seem to let up, even after I…

I am a 23-year-old female from South Africa who was on the hormonal birth control pill for skin purposes. As a human physiology and genetics graduate, I knew the risks of taking contraceptives and how it increases blood viscosity, or thickness, but I never thought that it was going to happen to me, even though…

I have always been someone who believed I could overpower being sick— at 31 years old, a hot shower, big glass of water, an over-the-counter pain medication, and a fresh face of makeup could still solve just about any ailment I experienced. But, when I broke my ankle in late November 2018 and started experiencing…