NBC 6 Meteorologist Speaks Out About Dangers Of DVT

NBC 6 Meteorologist Speaks Out About Dangers Of DVT

POSTED: 8:45 am EST November 14, 2008

UPDATED: 9:36 am EST November 15, 2008

MIAMI --

Just six weeks after moving to Miami, NBC 6 meteorologist Jennifer Gray nearly died from a blood clot in her lung caused by her birth control pills. It's called a pulmonary embolism, caused by Deep Vein Thrombosis, in which a blood clot, usually in the legs, travels to the lung.

Deep Vein Thrombosis is something 2 million Americans develop every year, and it could be affecting you right now without even knowing it.

Gray decided to share her personal story to raise awareness of the risk of a pulmonary embolism and birth control pills in young women.

It was a day Gray said she would never forget. Here’s her story.

On Aug. 5, 2007, 30 minutes after forecasting the weather, I found myself sitting in the emergency room. I thought it was the flu. But after several tests, the doctor's final forecast was that I was hours away from dying. The culprit: Blood clots in my lungs. The cause: Birth control pills.

"It is a regular occurrence,” Dr. Eduardo Oliveira, pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said. “In young females it is probably one of the most common causes of blood clot formation."

Oliveira shows me what it looks like.

"This dark area right here is a blood clot sitting right inside this blood vessel," Oliveira said.

Seeing the clot was a tough moment. And for the millions of women on the pill today not knowing the risks could be a quiet storm brewing.

One minute I was a healthy 26-year-old, the next I was lying in a hospital bed clinging to life.

"There is a chance that you could have developed a much worse pulmonary embolism and also a chance of death," Oliveira said.

The tests showed I had a genetic blood disorder called Factor V Leiden. It can cause pulmonary embolism when combined with birth control.

"It is a medication that has significant side effects. They are very beneficial for what they are being used for. They are very effective, but they carry a significant risk,” Oliveira said.

The Cleveland Clinic became my second home.

With appointments nearly every week, Dr. Chieh-lin Fu and Oliviera gave me hope.

I took breathing tests to make sure my lungs were healing from the clots.

I had to be monitored while taking Coumadin, a blood thinning medication.

Perhaps the worse part of it all was injecting myself in the stomach with more blood thinning medication to prevent clots.

My blood was so thin that something as simple as a cut or a car accident could have cost me my life.

My diet had to change. I couldn’t eat salads and greens because they contain Vitamin V, which thickens blood.

"I'm still having some pains in my back or lungs," Gray explained to Fu.

All along I was wondering how and why this happened to me.

"That's the problem with pulmonary embolism,” Fu said. “A lot of times the symptoms are not clear. Anything from I feel a little short of breath to aches in my muscles or even not specific, like, I don’t feel well. Those are the symptoms people don't look into, particularly in someone that's young."

After my scare, my 21-year-old sister tested positive for Factor V Leiden. She was taken off birth control. It was a decision that may have saved her life.

Only 50 percent of blood clot victims have symptoms. Twenty-five percent of those who develop a pulmonary embolism die suddenly. One of those people includes David Bloom.

"You nearly lost your life and I lost my husband's life,” Melanie Bloom said. “And all because of not knowing."

Melanie Bloom is talking about her husband David, a former NBC and WTVJ reporter who died suddenly in Iraq from a blood clot. His symptoms were as minor as leg pain, and now his wife is hoping to educate those at risk.

"I was just so surprised to find out that more people die from DVT than from AIDS, breast cancer, and car fatalities all combined and I yet I had never heard of it," Bloom said.

She continues to take her message of awareness to the airwaves.

"You are young, you are active, you are fit and if you only had knowledge and awareness and information about DVT, you could have made a better choice when it came to taking the pill," Bloom said.

I'm now off Coumadin and will closely monitor my condition for the rest of my life. Doctors say they don't test everyone for blood disorders before birth control is prescribed because they say not enough people are affected.

This is something I hope my story will help change.

For more information on DVT and prevention, click here to visit PreventDVT.org or click here to visit StopTheClot.org.

Previous Stories:

· November 14, 2008: Jennifer’s Blog: This Is My Story