Protein C deficiency

On September 22, 2013, I realized just how fragile life can be. Following a sprint to catch my evening train, I found a seat, sat down, caught my breath, and experienced a sudden shooting pain in my head. As I neared my destination, the headache dissipated, but when I stood to leave the train, I…

Wednesday, January 18, 2023, will be a day I will never forget. It started as an ordinary day at home with my two children, Amelia, and Andre. My son Andre, who had just turned 3 a month before, had been sick for about a week. I had already taken him to the pediatrician just three…

As told by her daughter Pellayia My mother passed away June 22, 1998 of a pulmonary embolism. It was sudden. I left for university that morning and got a call in between classes that I needed to come home right away. I told my cousin that I had a quiz and couldn’t. He kept insisting.…

I remember how excited I was. I was five months pregnant with my son. I had just started feeling him kick and move and I was busy planning the nursery, clothes, pictures, and working. When I left work on a Friday, my left leg was heavy and I was dragging it. Over the weekend my…

On January 1, 2002, I woke up feeling like I had a weight on my foot and was dragging my leg. As the morning went on, my leg felt like it was double the size of my right, and I was in pain. My husband took me to the emergency room.   The doctor believed I…

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…

I will never forget February 18, 2022. At the time, I was a healthy, active 30-year-old, training for my seventh half marathon. Two nights before, I had developed chest pain and shortness of breath. I wrote off the chest pain as a pulled muscle from lifting and dismissed the shortness of breath as anxiety.    But…

My son Luca is 16 years old and has a rare clotting disorder called protein C deficiency. Doctors initially thought it was a bleeding disorder, but it turned out to be a clotting problem. He forms micro-clots that use up the clotting factors, which causes internal bleeding.  It started just before Luca turned two years…

I believe that our daily hustle and bustle, which society has pressured us to believe is normal, convinces us to think that obligations are more important than the health and wellness of our own bodies. Ironically, being a doctorate student unintentionally embodies that notion as curriculum piles up to what eventually feels like an unfathomable…

My name is Ashley, and I was diagnosed with factor V Leiden, protein S deficiency, and protein C deficiency in March 2017. I was a waitress at the time, and I had just torn my shoulder due to a weight lifting accident. So, I started running outside a lot to stay active before I had…