As told by his mother, Jenifer.
On Dec. 3, 2020, I took my 18-year-old son, Adam, to the ER. He had severe back and leg pain, and his leg was swollen and purple. I thought that it was a pinched nerve or maybe a kidney infection.
Doctors discovered a massive clot in his left iliac vein that ran from the middle of his abdomen down to his knee. He had emergency surgery and a large stent placed. He was also diagnosed with May-Thurner syndrome and factor V Leiden.
Adam was put on blood thinners and I kept track of his medications and appointments. (He was also a type 1 diabetic and had celiac disease.)
He kept getting clots and tried so many different anticoagulants. He had a total of five stents placed in his left iliac vein and was having thrombectomy surgery every three to six weeks. He also had five different occurrences of pulmonary emboli. Many tests were done to figure out why he was resistant to anticoagulants, but we never got answers.
On July 14 of this year, he had an ultrasound of his leg, which revealed two small clots developing. On the morning of July 15, I went to his room to give him his meds and discovered his body on the floor.
It appeared that after coughing up blood, he attempted to jump up. The coroner said that could’ve knocked a blood clot loose and taken his life within seconds. We are devastated to have lost our son at the age of 20.
Our 14-year-old daughter has May-Thurner syndrome also and has a stent.
This has consumed our lives for the past 2 1/2 years. I had never really thought much about blood clots before this. Now I know so much more and want to spread awareness.
