Prior to October 2023 was fit and healthy I trained 5 times a week swimming, running and, cycling and participating in Iron Man events. I never smoked in my life. 

I had Covid four times and was short of breath for a month or so prior to getting a clot, but had put it down to lack of fitness as I had hurt my leg and was not running. I was short of breath on holidays in Lanzarote and over the last few days of the holiday I became very tired. 

I flew home and two days later started to become very short of breath with a stabbing pain from my lower lung to my shoulder. I drove myself to hospital and fell in the door. I was put into intensive care within three minutes of arriving to the hospital. A blood test and a D-Dimer test was done and tests showed that my lungs were full of clots. I had a partial collapse of my left lung, right-sided heart strain and straightening of the septum in my heart.  

I was stabilised in hospital and let home after five days but four weeks later I collapsed at home. I was rushed to hospital by ambulance and later told that the electrical system in my heart went a bit wonky. I was kept in intensive care for a week until things settled, and then I went home. 

I collapsed at home again in early December 2023 and ended up back in intensive care for a few days. 

It has been a long, slow recovery since then with shortness of breath and I have had a lot of heart palpations which have now resolved.  

A recent scan showed the clots are gone and the heart scan showed that the strain is gone but new onset of aortic root dilation and asthma. 

Other than that, I am doing well – I am back swimming, short cycling and walking a lot. I’;m still not back to where I was prior to the clots but doing well and I know how lucky I am.