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Annie Hamm
In November of 2001, my baby brother who was 17 at the time suffered a stroke. He went to our local emergency room and was told he was suffering
from the flu and they had questioned him as to whether or not he had done drugs. They were about to send him home until my mother and I insisted
that they run a Cat Scan on him as we suspected the worst-a stroke. Cat Scan came back and our worst fear was revealed. It was a stroke.
Two days into his ordeal, a Cardiologist discovered by an Echogram that my brother also had a hole in his heart. He was born with it and it was never discovered.
About five days later, they discovered that he had Factor V. They came to the conclusion that due to the Factor V, he had clotted, the blood clot went
through the hole in his heart and to his brain, which caused the stroke.
My brother had to make a life or death decision at that young age on whether to have open heart surgery. He chose to have the surgery which happened at
or about day 8 after getting bumped twice. While in surgery, the surgeon discovered that he had two holes in his heart, one at the bottom and the one on
top. The one on top was the size of a half dollar, much larger than the surgeon had expected.
On day 14 he was well enough to go home and recover. We brought him home 2 days before Thanksgiving. He was on Coumadin for six months. Not once did he
ask "Why me". He has a scar on his chest that goes from right below his neck to almost his belly button.
One week ago today, my brother was once again admitted to the hospital. This time he had formed a blood clot behind his right knee in one of the vessels,
that over a period of five or so days, had broke off into pieces that traveled into his lungs. At the emergency room five days previous to admission, they
found no blood clot. On the night he was admitted, they did a Cat Scan and it revealed about 20-30 blood clots in his lungs, two near his Aorta and a couple
as high as his collar bones. They put him on a Heparin diet and gradually worked Coumadin into it. He was well enough to go home today.
He is now 20 years old and has been dealing with this disorder for about 3 years now. He still hasn't asked "Why me".
As his older sister, 14 years his elder, I have never seen more courage in someone so close to me. We have discovered that he acquired Factor V from my
mother. So, everyday I worry about my brother and my mother. I am fortunate enough to have been negatively diagnosed.
Factor V just doesn't affect the person with it, it ultimately affects everyone close to them. I just wanted to share my brothers ordeal with others with
Factor V and with the people closest to them.
Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Annie (Sister or a brother with Factor V)