A Life Saved
Updated: Aug. 06, 2019
A letter from reader Elechia Barry-Sproule on how an article in Reader’s Digest saved her life.
I’d like to thank both Ron and Cari MacLean for “Minutes From Death” (Aug. 2013). The story saved my life.
After falling while visiting a friend last July, my ankle and foot began hurting. When the pain got worse, I was diagnosed with a broken navicular bone at the hospital. I was told not to put pressure on my foot, and over the next two weeks my life became very sedentary. I soon began feeling a charley horse-like pain in my calf, and within a week, I began having chest pain, too, which I attributed to poor sleep. When my breathing became laboured while climbing the stairs, I made plans to see my doctor in the near future.
A few days later, while flipping through the August issue of Reader’s Digest Canada, I came across the article about the MacLeans, and how Cari nearly passed away from a pulmonary embolism. Upon finishing the piece, I immediately called Telehealth Ontario and was advised to rush to the hospital.
When I arrived, I was quickly taken into the emergency room and assessed by a doctor. His theory was that I had a blood clot in my lung. A CT scan revealed two large pulmonary embolisms and a number of smaller clots. I was immediately given blood thinners, which I am still taking. I was later sent home with a new lease on life, and the realization that had I not read your article, I might not be here today.
-Elechia Barry-Sproule, Newmarket, Ont.
