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In early 2025 I was pregnant with my third baby and began feeling breathless and tight chested at around 17 weeks pregnant. I knew it wasn’t my asthma as my reliever inhaler didn’t help. I mentioned it to a GP who told me it was the pregnancy, but I hadn’t experienced this with my previous…

In February 2014, shortly after giving birth prematurely to my twin sons at the age of 34, I developed severe back pain. For about a week, I continued to go about my daily activities despite the symptoms. The pain and swelling were especially severe during physical activity and less noticeable at rest. Within days, my…

Around late February 2026, a few days after one of my collegiate rugby games, I started to feel a cramping feeling in my calf. I thought it was just cramping from the game or dehydration. I was having shortness of breath doing just basic things like walking up a flight of stairs. I went to…

I’m 28, healthy, active, go to the gym 4–5 times a week, and I almost died from a pulmonary embolism. It started after a long flight back from the USA. I felt like I had the flu, sore throat, fatigue, the usual. One morning, I woke up with a sharp back pain and suddenly could…

How do you even begin to explain one of the most terrifying, traumatic experiences of your life? It started with a cough that just wouldn’t go away. At first, I figured it was something mild that would pass. But instead of improving, things slowly began to change. I was getting more tired, out of breath…

I started feeling unwell on Friday, January 10, and assumed I had the flu. I took over-the-counter medications and felt better the next day. On Saturday, I got up, got dressed, picked up my granddaughter, and went about my day. At one point, I bent over to throw a piece of trash away—and suddenly, it…

Around 9:10 on Saturday, December 13, while getting ready to go out for the day with my family, I suddenly had intense chest pain and collapsed at home. My two teenagers were still in bed and my three-year-old was running around. The last thing I remember is him shouting, “Mummy it’s not sleep time.” Around…

I experienced death because of my pulmonary embolism. On March 17, 2025, just one hour after my C-section, I suffered a pulmonary embolism. I had been completely fine. Then, all of a sudden, I felt very cold — freezing. I started shivering so badly that my teeth wouldn’t stop chattering, and my mouth began to…

On the morning of December 21, 2021, Jason and his family were planning to spend the day Christmas shopping—just a simple, joyful day together. Instead, it became the day their lives changed forever. Jason was 50 years old when he passed away unexpectedly. That morning, his youngest daughter found him on the ground. He was…

I am a 24-year-old first-year medical student. On December 18, 2025, I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening condition that requires prompt recognition and treatment. That day, I initially presented the emergency department with severe shortness of breath, near-syncope (fainting), and a rapid heart rate (tachycardia). I …