A Vancouver man is sharing his story about suffering from potentially deadly blood clots in his lungs after getting diagnosed with COVID-19.

Jordan Hoey was exposed to the virus in May through his partner who is a healthcare worker. The fit and healthy 29-year-old was recovering at home and thought he was on the mend when he began having severe, stabbing chest pain.

“As my fever began to subside, I thought I was in the clear. Blood clots were the last thing on my mind,” said Hoey. “Little did I know what the next few months would bring.”

Hoey was treated at St. Paul’s Hospital by Dr. Anna Rahmani.

“He talks about how he coughed into his mask and it was basically kind of covered in blood,” Rahmani said on the NL Noon Report. “So he presented to the emergency room with this bloody cough and this what we call pleuritic chest pain, or stabbing chest pain where he was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism.”

Rahmani says blood clots are also occurring in people with so-called “mild” cases who are recovering at home.

“Looking at the literature that has been published globally by the research community we notice that somewhere between 16 to 40-per cent of the patients that are admitted to the ICU experience some form of a clot,” she added.

With the right drugs, she says Hoey eventually recovered enough to be sent home – but months later he still experiences chest pain, and fatigue. Rahmani says blood clots can be treated if medical attention is sought quickly.

And she says it is important that people learn to recognize symptoms like pain in the calf muscle, swelling or discolouration in the legs, severe and sharp chest pain, or in some cases coughing up blood.

(Photo submitted)