Man

One week before my diagnosis, I noticed I was getting weak. Not weakness from being tired, but unusually weak without cause (I thought).   I also had a nagging cough and was constantly clearing my throat. I began to presume that I had caught the coronavirus, so I started doctoring myself. After a few days, I…

I had abdominal surgery in July 2020 and had a difficult recovery. I could barely move. On Sunday, October 18, 2020, I woke and showered. I was home alone — my wife was visiting her brother. While climbing the stairs back to our bedroom, I became extremely short of breath.   Despite that, I made my…

I am a 39-year-old Native American. I have had 23 pulmonary emboli (PE) and 31 incidents of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) starting at age 22, caused by the factor V Leiden mutation. I also have congenital protein C and S deficiencies.   Nurses say I’m a miracle and call me a medical anomaly. Doctors ask…

Everything felt normal, but I was left gasping after walking up a hill carrying a bucket of water. Something was wrong. I was subtly winded after golfing and climbing stairs, but I paid no attention. I thought it could be allergies. The next day, walking up that same hill with the bucket, I was out…

I was first diagnosed with pulmonary emboli (PE), or blood clots in my lungs, on October 23, 2017. Doctors told me it was a miracle that I did not go into cardiac arrest and die because the clots in both lungs were the size of baseballs. I was rushed into emergency surgery to remove the…

On November 7, 2020, I received a phone call from my stepson Conner. I could tell by the fear in his voice that something was terribly wrong. I remember his exact words, “Dad is conscious, but you need to meet us at the hospital now! Dad is in an ambulance they’re taking him to the…

I had a nagging cough for a few days, which later became shoulder pain on Friday, March 18, 2022. I went to a local urgent care center to get checked, and the X-ray showed that I possibly had pneumonia. Despite antibiotics, my condition worsened over the weekend. By Tuesday, March 22, I had shortness of…

The Road to Diagnosis As far back as my teenage years, I had experienced chronic shortness of breath. This worsened in my twenties and thirties as new symptoms emerged, including occasional chest and arm pains and general exhaustion. Over the years I sought the opinions of countless doctors, leading to misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, …

In the fall of 2020, a near-fatal bilateral pulmonary embolism came from nowhere, cause unknown. As a 14-time marathoner and in the best shape of my life, this came as a complete shock. Following my diagnosis, I was put on blood thinners. As an athlete, adjusting to the blood thinners was a challenge. I was…

I am 28 years old and fairly active. I go to Crossfit five times a week. Blood clots were never on my radar screen. But on May 1, 2020, as I was walking to my car, I was overcome by dizziness and lightheadedness as I have never experienced before. I was also fatigued from walking…