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My name is Ryan and I’m 46 years old(now 47) and reside in Washington State. On an evening in March 2022, I collapsed to the floor as I went to get up from my computer desk. In just minutes I went from typing on my computer to laying on the floor with my entire left side paralyzed with the vision in my left eye spinning. Luckily, I was able to drag myself under my desk with my right arm and yank my phone off the desk by its charge cord and call for help. Upon arrival to the hospital I was found to have a large right front intracranial hemorrhage (brain bleed). The bleed had not stopped and I could hear the doctor telling my family that if it didn’t, I wouldn’t make it. Surgery was not an option in the area of the bleed. “Did we want to see a chaplain? Does he have a living will?” I’m thinking “We have just lost cabin pressure-this is bad.” The dizziness/spinning increased and everything went black.
Thankfully, I awoke around 4:30am the next morning and the bleed had stopped! I was told I had a good outlook for recovery , and over the next couple weeks I began therapy. On March 18th, I was working with therapy sitting up on the edge of the bed, and felt like I could stand up, so I did, shocking my therapy team. To be real though, I still had a ton of left side deficit and it was 95% my right side making it happen.
A plan was made to discharge me to an intensive 3-hour per day physical therapy facility to speed my recovery and limit any permanent loss of movement. My bleed was healed up and 90% of the bleed area over the brain was gone. Unfortunately, my referrals were rejected because I hadn’t had the Covid-19 vaccine and Washington State’s vaccine mandate required it. Insurance was deeming it no longer medically necessary for me to be in the hospital, I was still mostly left side paralyzed and couldn’t go home. I had Covid in November of 2021 and my doctor had wanted me to wait at least 4 months until my viral load was lower before taking the vaccine. With that time being just past, I had no choice to “agree” to take my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine March 24th, 2022. All of my family had had 1 or more doses and had been fine, many of them elderly and with conditions making them very vulnerable to Covid. I’m already in the hospital, the best place to be if I have a reaction….
Within a couple hours of taking the vaccine close to noon, pain spread from my arm into my chest. I felt like I was burning up even though my temperature was normal. My lower back hurt really bad and felt hot. My pulse was very fast and became erratic, and my blood pressure dropped. I was transferred back to the ICU. By 11pm that evening I was coughing up and throwing up blood, my kidneys were failing, my lungs were partially collapsed and had so much blood pooled in the bottom of them I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I spent 3 more days in the ICU, the worst day being the 28th. Heavy doses of steroids, antibiotics, and IV fluids brought me back from the brink of death. I was stabilized by the 31st, and discharged to a physical therapy facility. This vaccine reaction took a lot out of me, I could barely hold my head up when sitting up, and was in a state of constant sleepiness and bad brain fog. Unfortunately, I wasn’t done fighting for my life yet.
On April 6th, I started having chest and abdominal pain which became severe and sharp throughout the night. I was given pain killers for some comfort but by morning I was found tachycardic, with low blood pressure, and low oxygen, and was rushed by ambulance back to the hospital. An X-ray and CT scan found me to have a Bi-lateral Pulmonary Embolism (blood clots in both lungs). One lung was getting 20% of the blood flow and the other pulmonary artery was completely blocked both emboli were huge. The ER staff told me I was lucky to be alive. A subsequent Echocardiogram showed my heart appeared “ok” physically but I was still experiencing arrhythmia and my right ventricle wasn’t functioning properly-not opening and closing all the way and the "timing was off". Imaging was poor though, as I was struggling to breathe, couldn’t hold myself up on my side for the ECG, and was still coughing up stuff.
April 14th I finally discharged back to the physical therapy facility and then went home on May 16th still in a wheelchair. My doctor acknowledged that they were still reviewing my case but that it appeared I’d had a severe hemorrhagic, inflammatory, and possibly septic response to the vaccine, that I’d been the 3rd patient in our region of ~250K people to have such a serious reaction. I’m the first one they are aware of to have had such a vaccine response AFTER a brain bleed/stroke, so I’m in uncharted waters medically. Despite all this, I started receiving in-home therapy in late March, and took my first steps along the kitchen counter June 10th, only ~3 months after the brain bleed.
As I have progressed in therapy(now outpatient) and been able to walk a bit further, shortness of breath became the limiting factor. Follow-up appointments revealed that my lungs are still partially collapsed (even today), and my heart has an aortic aneurysm, right ventricle damage, and bicuspid valve damage both physically and neurologically. Imaging suggests “cannot rule out myocardial infarction”(heart attack). Update: I did get my visit with cardiology and thankfully my Arrythmia and valve issues(range of motion) appear to be resolving. The aortic aneurysm is enlarged to a "periodic scan and follow up" status and won't require surgery. I also have neurological issues and a blood clotting disorder(venous thrombosis) as a result of my vaccine injury, yet cannot take blood thinners due to the chance of a re-occurrence of the brain bleed. I tried Lyrica to help the nerve pain/neurological spasticity issues but it made the heart arrythmia far worse and I had to stop taking it. A short course of aspirin is all I can risk taking, and as I have more clotting issues and nervous system episodes I am walking a tightrope of uncertainty and have been back in the hospital several times in 2023.
As of March 10th 2023, my care team has finally reviewed my case and officially blamed all the events that happened after I received the vaccine, on the vaccine, and added it to my allergy list so at least I'll never be forced to take another dose. I still have issues with vertigo, and cannot drive. I walk short distances with a cane, and my left leg, ankle, and shoulder are still very weak. Brain fog and being severely tired still persist. I am able to work from home as an estimator and have been able to hang onto my job at least part time.
The CICP (Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program) for vaccine injuries has acknowledged receipt of my over 3,000 pages of medical records and my request for benefits, but has over 10,000 claims backlogged and looks to be of no help for years to come at the current rate of case review. None of Washington State’s politicians have responded to my messages, offered any help, or even said they are sorry this happened. They appear content having nearly mandated me to death, and now choose to stick their fingers in their ears. Our cost of living is very expensive here and Social Security Disability comes well short of covering even the basics. It does appear to my doctors that I’ll make it through this and recover eventually, but all I’m told for the timeline is it’s “a long road for recovery”.
I'm at the point now where I have to hang my head and plug in my gofundme link here: https://gofund.me/a487a6a0
Unfortunately, I'll likely be another year in both physical and occupational therapy as well as neurology(still waiting to see them, as they are booked out many months). Medical bills (deductibles and maximum out of pocket amounts not covered by insurance) are adding up and at part time work, our income is down. Our savings is depleted and I've been getting help from my folks so my family can get by. They are of limited means and can't keep helping us out forever.
I want to close by saying that I've spent alot of time looking at the vaccine injuries in VAERS and it appears that serious/fatal reactions were somewhere in the 5 cases per million doses range. Despite the rush to develop the vaccine, the numbers say it was a success. Unfortunately for those of us that had severe reactions and survived, and families of those that didn't, there is no safety net or compensation coming anytime soon. There are over 400 gofundme's for vaccine injuries, many worse off than I am with severe nervous system issues or heart damage. If you've got the financial means to distribute some $$ among them, please consider doing so.
Ryan, I am so sorry to hear that all this has happened to you. Wow. I don't think I could easily put into words my thoughts, but I do appreciate you stating what happened to you so that we can understand, and for others to hear.
I wish I could help financially, but I am an old lady on a fixed income. My hope is that others will step forward to aid you.
Devastating. Really sorry you're going through this. VAERS gives some insight. Recommend you visit The Highwire dot com if you seek truth and want to learn more.
I do have several blood coagulation abnormalities now 14 months post vax, my blood is still clotting, at a much slower rate yet it's strangely thinner. This can cause slowly accumulating micro-clots in the lungs or brain.
I was referred to the cancer center hematologist as the clotting (D-dimer) is twice the safe amount and I couldn't get into regular hematology until the end of August. Even that, is still booked out until the end of June. Praying that I don't slowly clot up in my lungs or my brain in the meantime. I guess if I stop posting you'll know what happened.
I've done much research and sifting through my medical records and lab tests and put it all into a timeline. Apparently, the vaccine triggers a severe inflammatory response in select individuals, along with the liver over-producing fibrinogen, a liver produced blood clotting enzyme. I wasn't tested often enough to see if the inflammation or the clotting came first, but after just 4 days my fibrinogen and D-dimer were way over the limits and my white blood cells were almost off the chart. 14 days after the vaccine I had the bi-lateral pulmonary embolism and my D-dimer levels were 16 times the safe limit.
If you had any kind of chest pain or just haven't felt good since the vaccine, get a blood test to assure the following factors are normal: D-Dimer
INR
apTT
A high D-dimer means you are clotting and at risk of a stroke or pulmonary embolism(PE). These can lead to a heart attack or death as the heart tries to force blood through clotted up lungs and starves for oxygen. This can be solved in most people by being prescribed a blood thinner. I can't take thinners with my prior brain bleed or this would be an easy fix....
Hey Ryan. I can vouch for the fact that you’ve been open about your reaction to the vaccine on many prior posts, and I believe that this is an honest and deserving request for help, and acted accordingly.
Best wishes.
Hello Ryan, truly sorry about the very serious medical situation you are facing. I cannot imagine what you are going through. I really hope some smart doctor is able to help you negotiate it.
Hey Ryan. I can vouch for the fact that you’ve been open about your reaction to the vaccine on many prior posts, and I believe that this is an honest and deserving request for help, and acted accordingly.
Best wishes.
More than that, is just getting the information out there. This slow blood clotting can go un-noticed for months or even over a year until it manifests itself critically. I suspect that these athletes that are dropping dead are experiencing this.
The pulmonologist said I was very lucky, the heart's right ventricle typically fails when it's pushing too hard against clotted up lungs and you're dead.
If you look up VITT, (Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia), it looks like that is what happened to me. It has about a 15 case per million occurrence rate. If you've had any chest pain or even discomfort, shortness of breath that is out of character, following being administered the vaccine, please get tested for a coagulation abnormality it may save your life. Blood thinners are an easy fix, a stroke, PE, or heart attack not so much.
The data shows that the vaccine does work to minimize the effects of Covid-19, but did not keep people from getting it. I'm obviously very upset for being mandated to take it despite being in a fragile state after my brain bleed, which likely ruined any chances of completely recovering from my left side paralysis and being left on my own with my vaccine injuries. The "system" needs to have the backs of the vaccine injured especially when this vaccine was mandated to many. To date, I still have not received a single response from any Washington State politicians.
Hello Ryan, truly sorry about the very serious medical situation you are facing. I cannot imagine what you are going through. I really hope some smart doctor is able to help you negotiate it.
Thank you. I hope so, it may be as simple as a daily children's aspirin or I may have to have periodic blood transfusions if the risk of taking thinners is too great with my prior brain bleed.
I'm taking a children's aspirin 2x weekly, and the scary part is its helping significantly with my vertigo and energy levels for about 1-1/2 to 2 days and then its downhill again. So something is going on that the aspirin is acting as a bandaid for.
It turned out that the hospital either never filed a VAERS report or VAERS couldn't find it even though I thought I found it..so I filed my own. VAERS assigned me a case manager within a week and confirmed my vaccine injury claims against my medical records over the past month. The case manager said mine is one of the worst she's documented that survived and to "hound" compensation for an expedited review and an "advance" to cover some medical bills. Of course, compensation is backed up forever in case reviews, and it's been a week and no response from them.
It gets worse unfortunately. VAERS typically doesn't diagnose, but shared that systematic capillary leak syndrome is very possible in my case. It's supposedly super rare, and causes widespread internal bleeding, organ damage/failure, and death. It's also possible to have subsequent "flares" of this that match many of the symptoms I'm still having. Monthly infusions of immunoglobulin may be in my future. 25% recover completely over 2 years, some require IVIG for a lifetime, 30% don't survive over a 5-year timeline. After 10 weeks of waiting despite a critical referral, I finally see hematology next week and hopefully get some answers.
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