My name is Hub Williams and I would like to share my wonderful partner’s story. On January 6, 2016, we lost a loving, caring, and amazing woman — who was only 36 years old — to a pulmonary embolism (PE or blood clot in the lung). Her name was Summer Kylene Gibney. She was very healthy and active, without any blood clot symptoms, except shortness of breath for about five days. Both she and I being nurses, we chalked it up to maybe the start of a flu or just the stress of the holidays.
Summer was at our local grocery store with her daughter when she blacked out and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were called. She was taken to our local hospital, where it was determined that she had a very large clot that would require clot buster medications to try to break up the clot. The hospital flew her to a more advanced hospital where this procedure could be performed. When she arrived at the new hospital, multiple clots were found in both of her lungs, which required catheters to be placed in both lungs to administer the medication. After she started receiving the medication, she started going downhill and approximately 15 hours later she was no longer with us. The cause of the clots is still to be determined, but she was on birth control.
Summer was – and still is – an amazing woman who changed each and every person who she came into contact with. She always had a smile on her face and she took wonderful care of her 16-year-old daughter, whom she loved with all of her heart. I share her story with everyone I come into contact with hoping that I can make people aware of such an unknown risk that any one of us may be faced with. While sharing her story, I have met so many young people who have been in the same situation and it has truly changed their lives forever. It has also changed my life forever.
