How two DVTs changed my life physically and mentally

Hello, My Name is Edward.

I'm 24 and I live in Bromley Kent.

I was 16 at the time so just starting my GCSE’s. One Morning I woke up for school, and my left leg felt very strange and sore, so I got out of bed and tried to put weight on it which made me feel even worse. I tried to carry on as normal thinking that I may have twisted or sprained it in the night.

I managed to limp to the bus stop hoping it would ease a bit, when I arrived at school I could feel my leg starting to swell and I sat in my first lesson but it was all too much and I couldn't bear the pain any longer. At the end of the day I called my Mum and told her, so she could pick me up as it felt like I had seriously done some damage to my leg.

I was told that I had sprained it and to follow the RICE procedure

We got home and looked at my leg which was a completely different colour and blown up like it was ready to pop, we went straight to minor injuries and waited to be seen, I was told that I had sprained it and to follow the RICE procedure. A few days went on and one evening the pain was getting worse, so me and mum decided something was clearly not right and we called the emergency doctor and got an appointment that evening.

We came out of the doctors and were told to go straight to A&E to have a scan. When we got to the hospital we were told that we had to wait till the next day for a scan which we were very annoyed about as I was starting to feel very sick!

Later the next day I had a scan and was diagnosed with a large blood clot from my groin down to my knee!

Later the next day I had a scan and was diagnosed with a large blood clot from my groin down to my knee! I was rushed into a ward to be treated with blood thinning medication and to monitor me for a week, the doctors were very shocked to see me in a children's ward with a blood clot!

When I was 17, I experienced the same pain and swelling in my left leg again and was diagnosed with another blood clot in the same leg, which caused even more pain and swelling in my leg. At this point my leg was severely damaged but my consultant doctors at St Thomas’s hospital, London did an amazing job trying to find out why I got a blood clot at a young age. Many tests and scans were done to find this out and they eventually diagnosed me with May Thurners Syndrome.

My journey doesn't end there, due to all the damage my veins received I have had three stents put into my vein to keep it open, I have also had four major leg ulcers on my ankle due to the damage, which are horrible to have and a pain in the leg to get rid of!

I was seen every week at my local leg ulcer clinic to have them cleaned and dressed in compression bandage to help the healing process.

Prior to all this I was normally a fit and healthy young lad who had a passion for cooking and training to be a chef but unfortunately due to the extent and damage I wasn't healthy enough to fill this.