Blood clots claim lives of young athletes, families advocate for awareness
March is Blood Clot Awareness Month, Gov. Kemp proclaims
March will be Blood Clot Awareness Month in Georgia, thanks to the advocacy of two grieving local families and Gov. Brian Kemp's latest proclamation. Learn more about 21-year-old Bryce Stanfield and 17-year-old Finley Krutchen who both died, just months apart, due to blood clots.
ATLANTA - Up to 100,000 people die each year from blood clots, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 25% of those who experience initial symptoms will die suddenly.
What we know:
Twenty-one-year-old Bryce Stanfield, a Harrison High graduate and defensive tackle at Furman University, died last February.
Seventeen-year-old Denmark High School football star Finley Krutchen died in October.
Both athletes died from massive pulmonary embolisms where a blood clot blocks arteries in the lungs. They both had the clotting disorder Factor V Leiden.
What they're saying:
"Finley didn't show any of the signs and symptoms that you would typically think, but he had pneumonia, and they thought maybe asthma and he saw a couple of different doctors...was cleared by cardiology a week before he went into cardiac arrest," Finley's mom, Veronica Krutchen said.
"Bryce was a 21-year-old athletic football player. He was diagnosed with muscle strains and an upper respiratory infection, maybe a touch of asthma. No one suspected that his symptoms would be related to a blood clot," Bryce's mom, Teri Stanfield, explained.
Both of the athletes’ parents plan to head to Washington D.C. in March to continue to push for blood clot awareness on a national level.
"It just helps us know that our boys’ voices will be heard," Krutchen added.
SEE ALSO:
- Mother champions awareness of pulmonary embolisms in young athletes
- Forsyth County teen football star suffers embolism; to be honored at game
The Source: FOX 5's Kim Leoffler spoke to the family of Bryce Stanfield and Finley Krutchen, who both died from blood clots.