PATIENT STORIES

I am 32 years old, a non-smoker, and generally very active and outdoorsy. I hike a lot and used to swim and go to the gym almost every day. So, possibly like you, I never thought this could happen to me, but my life changed dramatically last summer when I had a DVT/PE.

My story is a long one, starting in 2000 and is still ongoing. It is also a complex one in that I’ve had a rare type of deep vein thrombosis, technically it’s called an occluded inferior vena cava.

My Journey with Thrombosis: VTE @ 16 and recurrent DVT at 24.

Battling to overcome a second DVT and an incredible walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall, ..."the walk signalled the end of a very long road but also the start of another."

The people who were really saved that day, was my family.

All thanks to the Medical Team in Critical Care ward 6 in the New KOC Hospital in Ahmadi, Kuwait.

It’s still strange looking back. I’ve never smoked, no family history, genetics are negative, protein and minerals were all good. Walking around 5-13km a day for the two weeks before. It was unprovoked and no signs or symptoms to make me think.

In the end, I was able to see my oldest Daughters graduation.

My name is Kayleigh, I am 25 years old, 5 years ago this year in July, I was diagnosed with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. I had been suffering from major headaches and feeling sick for weeks!

From a young age Darren experienced blood clots, wishing more was known about the cause, his account tells of his struggle and of the immense impact blood clots have had on his life.

Michael is determined to help everyone to know the signs and symptoms of a blood clot, and has bravely shared his mother’s story to urge every reader to share information about blood clots and encourage everyone to #KnowThrombosis and to #ThinkThrombosis

About 15 years ago when I was 45 (as I am coming up to my 60^th) I had been having a knife-like pain under my right shoulder blade on the Monday at work, I had also lost my voice for the last couple of months.

My PE was diagnosed a year ago in 2022. For several weeks I had a pain in my upper back and eventually saw a GP who thought it was a strained muscle but ordered a chest X-ray and some blood tests.

The start of the Clot journey was very unexpected I was age 34 and was 32 weeks pregnant. I was struggling to breathe however I put it down to pregnancy and positioned high.

My husband and I are keen long distance walkers and in September 2020 decided to celebrate coming out of lockdown by walking Hadrian’s Wall path.

I was diagnosed at nine weeks pregnant in 2008. I'd had a flu type virus two weeks before and then spent a week hobbling around with what I thought was sciatica.

In late September 2022, I woke up to a weird pain on my left side. I thought I’d pulled a muscle in my sleep but as the day went on the pain intensified. The next day was my first day of 2nd year (for context I’m a student nurse), I barely slept that night as I couldn’t lie flat from the pain and went to university extremely uncomfortable with every breath I took.

I am 42, female, was a long-distance runner, cyclist and very active in dog sports prior to my diagnosis. I considered myself to be 100% fit and healthy.

I had a bilateral PE in 2013, but was initially sent home from A&E with antibiotics despite classic symptoms/risk factors and a strong family history of thrombosis because my d dimer was negative. I was 31 at the time and a keen runner.

I would like to share my story so that others could be aware of what symptoms to look for.

It was October 2021 and I was 29 years old at the time, I contracted the Delta variant of Covid from my workplace after returning from holiday celebrating my daughter's 1st birthday.

In around December 2021, I had just turned 21 I started getting abdominal pain and it was very painful, I also wasn’t able to keep any food or fluids down

I presented at the hospital in August 2021 with severe breathlessness and a high heart rate which had got progressively worse over 3 days

I had always lived in a big city, where GPs were overworked, appointments were rushed and symptoms were overlooked.