Woman

I went to the ER in April 2020 with severe pain in my right chest and back area. I couldn’t lie flat, or take any deep breaths, like coughs or sneezes. I couldn’t bend forward to pick anything up, and I was getting fatigued from the pain. It had gone on for three days before…

In March of 2016, I was 28 years old and pregnant with my second child. Being nine weeks along, I had severe morning sickness, but other than that, everything seemed normal. One morning, I noticed a dull pain on my right side along my ribcage. I assumed I must have slept funny. As the day…

It was 6 p.m. on a cold Wednesday night in February 2014. My legs were dangling from the patient table as I sat anxiously at an urgent care facility waiting for the doctor to come in. My right calf had continued to swell and throb over the last several days, to the point where I…

In 2016, life was normal. I was balancing a full-time desk job, motherhood, and the excitement of a second pregnancy. However, around 32 weeks into my pregnancy, things started to take a turn for the worse when I developed pain in my left hip. Worried, I went to the doctor, who, without fully examining me,…

I was the most fit I had ever been when I had my deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary emboli (PE) at 28 years old. I ran marathons, competed in triathlons, and had just recently completed my first 100-mile bike race. After my bike race, I was struggling to recover. My legs felt heavy. My…

I was diagnosed with the genetic clotting disorder factor V Leiden when I was 15 years old. My aunty (my dad’s sister) had a blood clot during pregnancy and she learned she had FVL, which led to members of my family, including me, being tested for it too. While growing up, FVL never had any…

Can you be too young to experience blood clots? At 22 years old, I wasn’t, and neither are you! I have heard “you are too young” at every medical provider’s office, but blood clots do not discriminate. Trust me, because I’m a two-time survivor of pulmonary emboli, also known as PEs or blood clots in…

My name is Frank. Until recently, I had no idea what a pulmonary embolism (PE) was. I quickly found out, though, on July 1, 2020, when one tragically claimed the life of my wife Amy. Amy and I were together since 2001, and we were married in 2004. We have five beautiful children together. Most…

My name is Michele. I am a healthcare worker, mother, and recent survivor of venous thromboembolism (blood clots in the veins, which includes deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism). I am sharing my story to raise awareness, both on a general level as well as from the perspective of a healthcare worker. In January 2020,…

My story begins in February of this year when I felt a sharp, intense pain in my ribs. Assuming it was a pulled muscle from a workout the day before, I didn’t think anything of it. But by 4 a.m., the pain woke me up. I called the non-emergency services here in the United Kingdom,…