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Taking a Breath: A Stop the Clot Podcast is a show committed to shining a light on the dangers of blood clots and breathing life into The National Blood Clot Alliance’s mission of pushing these preventable killers to the forefront of public discourse. We will hear the stories of notable blood clot survivors like Olympic medalists Katie Hoff Anderson & Tatyana McFadden, among others, as well as the expertise of medical professionals to provide connection, empathy and resources to listeners like you. At Stop the Clot we know the patient because we are the patient. Journey through this miraculous series with hosts and blood clot survivors Leslie Lake and Todd Robertson as they, with the help of listeners like you, change the way we think about blood clots. Join us as we collectively stop the clot.
The National Blood Clot Alliance (NBCA) is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, voluntary health organization dedicated to advancing the prevention, early diagnosis and successful treatment of life-threatening blood clots such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.
Everything Podcasts (00:02.434)
The realities of pain and grief that come from losing a child are incalculable. The sudden and immediate loss echoes the complexities of remembrance for the rest of your life. Then he was on his way up and heard a thump. So he ran upstairs and he had passed out. He was still awake, but he was like, he's not good. How do you find peace in a world you never expected to experience? That was the hardest, hardest day of our lives. Yeah, we got to his last heartbeat, so it was hard. He said, you know, you have a choice, but please don't put him through this again. Don't do this to him.
Everything Podcasts (00:46.454)
Every six minutes, somebody in America dies of a blood clot. We're here to change that statistic. Welcome to Taking a Breath, a stop the clot podcast. An award winning podcast dedicated to bringing awareness of the dangers of blood clots from the clotting disorders community to the world. With the help of many notable blood clot survivors, we are here to give you the knowledge and the skills you need to prevent this silent killer. My name is Leslie Lake.
I am the volunteer president of the National Blood Clot Alliance and I am a blood clot survivor. And my name is Todd Robertson. I'm the patient engagement liaison for the National Blood Clot Alliance and I am a seven-time blood clot survivor. And we're here to stop the clot.
Everything Podcasts (01:38.616)
It's unimaginable having to scale the seemingly insurmountable and to continue changing the lives of others day in and day out. Our guests today are guided not only by the love they have for their son, but by their ability to advocate for a world where other families will never face the tragedy they've endured. Today it is my pleasure to welcome two people whose warmth and goodness shines through the fog of the impossible.
This is Carrie and Bob Burgess.
Everything Podcasts (02:13.61)
I'm Burgess. I'm mother of Blake and Brooke Burgess. I am current. I mean, I've been doing this for a long time, but I'm a speech pathologist and I've been doing it a long time. And I took a little break. It was a pharmaceutical rep when I actually had Blake. I wanted to change careers a little bit and have a little more time with him. So I took a break from that. Hi, my name is Bobby Burgess. I'm Blake's dad and I am a medical device sales rep. And ironically, I work for a company called Penumbra and we actually do mechanical thrombectomy and remove clots from people's lungs and save their life. So I wish I was doing this in 2020 when Blake had his PE. Well, Blake was basically the all-American kid. From the time he was born and could speak, a cherry tomato was a ball. Everything was a ball. So we knew he was going to love sports for sure, and he did. And everything he did, he did well. He was the quarterback. He did competitive quarterback at a young age and attended a quarterback camp and was the quarterback for, it's a little league, but it was an intense little league. Let's put it that way. And then he went on to play in high school and became the quarterback for our 6A high school. He wore the number 10. He was...not only just an athlete, he was just truly a kind soul. He was generous to everyone. It's ironic that since he passed, we've had more letters, more calls, more texts from people we know and people we don't know explaining, you don't know this, but at our elementary school, I was bullied. Blake sat at the cafeteria with me. The bullying stopped.
The neat story about that since his passing is those two boys have now reconciled at college and were in each other's weddings. So that was just one of the stories. We had a story we never knew. Blake was extremely humble and that doesn't always go together when you've got a quarterback, but he did not like the limelight. He was an awesome quarterback, but did not like the limelight. And his high school is very well known for a special needs program and they do an amazing job.
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We never knew this, but he would go read to the special needs before football practice. And his main coach was a special needs teacher. So it's just little things like that. We slowly learned. We have a golf tournament every year in honor of him. We had a, I don't even know this guy. He was a friend of Blake's, gave us a three page letter at the tournament, but he wrote it, I think a week after he passed away.
So he didn't feel it was right to give it to us except for five years later. And he said, do not read it today. And we went home and slept and read it. And it was just such a kind letter. And I think the common thing about Blake is all these stories we're getting and his girlfriend at the time even said, everybody looked at Blake as their best friend.
To us, Blake had a few really good friends, but everybody said, he's my best friend. He really likes me. He's so kind. So that's the most important thing. He was just a really kind soul. He was incredibly smart, very good at math. He was a junior in college at OU. When he passed away and his girlfriend at the time had told us that he had had straight A's, which we didn't know. He didn't even brag about that. And just very well respected in his fraternity at OU.
Just the things that people are still doing today. They put on a Blake's week every year. They've done it for five years where they raised money between the sorority that his girlfriend was in and he was fraternity. was in ironically, my daughter is in now that sorority and they still do it, you know, and it's just amazing that they're still honoring him at OU to this day. The golf tournament. This is the sixth year and we've raised, I think around $200,000 and that goes into a college fund.
that we give out a scholarship each year to a kid from his high school that has characteristics like Blake. It was somebody that's humble, kind, leader. That was Blake. He was really good at everything he did, but he was very humble about it and didn't like brag about it. He didn't like the limelight. Put him in a sport, he was gonna be really good at it. And he was very smart and he was gonna be a very successful young man. It's just unfortunate that the COVID and the blood clot.
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took him away from us too soon. Like he had the most eclectic friend group. Like you would think, he's a sports guy. He's got all these jocks. No. And we've had some go, I don't even know why he wanted to be my friend, but he was. And I'm like, that was Blake. He just loved everyone and he didn't care if you were a brainiac, a jock, whatever. If he liked you, he liked you. He was very well-rounded. Yes. These messages from friends just...
They're just amazing. And his very best friend just got married in November. And just what they did to honor him, the now wife, wanted the mother-in-law to make a pocket square with his initials for Bobby, the groom, his best friend. And she surprised him. They honored him at the wedding. They used his Jeep for the getaway car. It's just, the things people are doing to honor him are amazing. And even his at-the-time girlfriend is now engaged. And she called me.
about four years ago and I knew what was happening. And when she got engaged, I congratulated her and she even said, she has a ring with his thumbprint on it. And she sent a picture of it and said, he's always with me and he was with me when I got engaged. So everyone has just been nothing but respectful to honor him. It's just been amazing. So Blake was at college at University of Oklahoma and this is September, 2020.
So this is right in the middle of COVID. He lived in a house with probably six guys and he called and he said, you know, tested positive for COVID, but he just kind of had, you know, kind of cold symptoms, a little maybe worse than that, but not bad. He still felt pretty good. You know, he quarantined, you know, he didn't really feel that bad, but he just kind of lingered and lingered. And then he went to go to the ER. Well, before that he had gone in and got tested and they said he had COVID.
And then three days later, he said, I'm still not feeling great. And he said, where can I go in Norman again? And they said, you have COVID. If you get worse, go to the ER. So that was about two days later. He called me, he said, I do not feel good. Then I said, I'll come to you. We'll go to the ER. And he said, no, I'm already in my car. I'm coming back to Edmond where we live. He lives in Normans. It's about 35 minutes away. And so I was ready, got right out.
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Got in his Jeep, I took over the driver's seat, took him immediately to our local hospital here. And it was COVID, so I can't go in. I went in initially and they said, you have to go to your car. So I went to my car and he went in and was looked at. And, you know, I wasn't in there at the time, but I know he was hurting so bad. He said, my side hurts so bad.
what is wrong with me? And I said, we're gonna go find out. And he was just pushing at his side the whole time while I was driving. When he came out, I was able to ask him what happened. And he even said, I'm not sure what they said. Like, what do they want me to do? He had some paperwork. They did a EKG. They ran an EKG. And a chest x-ray. And a chest x-ray. But he had presented with symptoms. had shortness of breath, chest pain, and pain in his side. So classic PE symptoms. They also knew he had COVID.
because we had told him he's gone twice to get this looked at and they said it's COVID. After they did all that, apparently they told Blake, you just have COVID. You basically have to just let it run its course. So they sent him back to the parking lot and this time it's probably 3 a.m. and he's still the exact same way that he came in. And this hospital I trust, I thought I trusted they're gonna do the right job. So I said, what did they tell you? And he said, they gave me a prescription for a supercharged Motrin and a cough syrup.
He wasn't really coughing that bad, but they gave him a cough syrup and said, it's COVID, just basically let it run its course. So this was really early in the morning. So we went home and I slept on the couch. His room is upstairs, but I slept on the couch just so I could hear him. And he said, what can I do? I still hurt. And I said, I can give you some Motrin. I don't know what else to do. And he went upstairs and put Icy Hot all over his chest and got in a hot bath.
I laid there and he got comfortable and fell asleep. And ironically, his sweet dog, Baker, that he wanted so bad, this chocolate lab that was a true lab, just laid between our stairs going down in his room. It's just right off the stairs. And I thought, well, that's sweet. That's kind of weird, but sweet. And then the next morning I said, how do you feel? I'm going to go get your medicine. He said, I feel better. said, okay. And then I got his medicine, went to work. He said, I'm going to go back to Norman. I feel better.
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And I said, okay, let's keep an eye on it. And he went back to Norman and he had the ups and downs that typical COVID has of feel okay, I don't feel good. I feel okay, I don't feel good. And that kind of went on and then he's talking to friends and people and they're like, man, I've had COVID, it's just that way, it sucks. You just have to keep going and rest and do what they say. And then it was what, about 10 days later? He had gone.
and this is from his friends, two friends stayed back in that house. The other ones were going on a ski trip and they had gone to Five Guys to eat and then they were gonna play video games. One went home, because they could do it from their home. Blake went upstairs and then his friend was downstairs playing and I guess Blake could text his friend downstairs and said, you need to come up here. And then he was on his way up and heard a thump. So he ran upstairs and he had passed out.
He was still awake, but he was like, he's not good. And thank God he had the instinct to call 911. We talked to him about it and said, what made you not just put him in your car? And he said, I don't know. I just thought I need to call 911. And so the Norman Fire Department showed up and talked to us after and said, we said, stay with us, Blake, stay with us, Blake. We're getting you to the hospital and got him in there, did his vitals. He was- coded in the ambulance on the way there. They said, we're coming in hot.
in the ER. So the moment they got there, they started resuscitating him. So I get a call from his girlfriend because she tried to call me and somehow and Bobby and the phone wouldn't go through. So she called my daughter Brooke and Brooke came down and said, mom, you need to wake up. Blake's in the hospital. By this time, we're like, here we go again. They're telling us it's this, they're going to send him home. So I really
wasn't too concerned at this point. I thought, okay. And I even told Bobby, cause he had to get up early. said, I'll go, I'll go getting. And I drove down there and I just had a gut. The nurse or the person that checks you in said, come right in here, Ms. Burgess and took me to a family room. And that you never want to hear cause you're thinking you need my insurance card. You need to know what are you, what, why are you doing this? And by that time the doctor came in
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and said, this is severe, he coded. And I just, of course, lost it. I said, he what? And he said, he's stable, but he coded and he's not responsive at the moment. And I still was in shock. mean, for one, I'd just been woken up and then, so I had to call Bobby and that was one of the hardest calls I've ever made, was to tell him that he coded and you need to get here quick.
And he just kept saying, what, what? This is not true. This is not true. And I said, you need to get here. And by that time, his girlfriend and his friends lived in Norman, so they came. And then J.C. was his girlfriend. His mom and dad came up from Edmond, and they were all in there with us in the family room. And we finally got to go see him in the ER, and that was tough because he looked great.
He just wasn't responsive and you'd touch his head and his hair and he'd twitch and he was having seizures. And so they had to resuscitate him again. And then they finally told us we have to retest him for COVID before they're going to move him to an actual ICU room. But they said we have to test him again. If he has, if he even has a glimpse of it, you all can't go in the room. So you might as well go home by this time at six in the morning.
let us give you the results, go get your daughter, talk to her, because she was getting ready to go to high school that day. And I, you know, with my job, I worked in a COVID only hospital and I know how that can linger those tests and it's probably out of their system. And I was like, please God don't, don't let this be in his system. He needs his parents in that room. And sure enough, they said it's still in there. And so we got home and told Brooke, she was coming down with her backpack and
told her, you don't have to go to school today if you don't want and explained that call you came down and told me about, which was very difficult. She just started crying and said, he's going to be okay, right? And I said, of course he is, of course he is. And we just need to get our stuff and we'll all go down there together.
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We went down there and by this time he's in a room, but they won't let us in. So the doctors would come out to us and talk. Well, they did a process of cooling his body down. So they took him in and they get your body temperature down really low so that it reduces brain swelling. Cause he went too long coated and not getting blood supply to his brain. And then all the seizures that he was having. So the neurologist, she was amazing, came out and said, look, this is what we're going to do with. We're going to cool him down.
This is a process, it's gonna be the week, and then we start warming back up. So at that point, we were very hopeful. We're like, my gosh, this is amazing. His high school football team was playing on Friday night, and I said, this will be great. We'll get to tell you about the game. We're all big Oklahoma Sooner fans. They had a game on Saturday. We're like, this is great. He will be fine. We'll be able to talk to him about all this, you know. So.
It was just amazing at the response of people that came in this hospital. And what's ironic is most COVID hospitals, including the one I work at, would never let that many visitors in, ever. In this waiting room, I bet there were 50 people at one time. They never wanted to leave. And these are fraternity brothers, friends, family members of the friends coming up. Every time I go back to look at him through the glass, which was torture.
I'd come back out and there's some more food or there's a gift basket or there's puzzles or there's something and people praying for us. And two major churches here, one that we attend, had people that arranged to come down to Norman and leave Edmond and do a prayer group with us. just, it was so amazing and we were just so hopeful that his fraternity had done a vigil. And I said, Bobby, go, I got this. You all go take those fraternity brothers and you go represent our family. I'll sit here. We're good. We're good.
And that was very, very special. Then when they all came back, one of the nurses came out, or maybe it was the doctor, and said, you know what you guys could really do that would help Blake? And they said what? And they said, there's a blood drive going on right down, was it downstairs of the hospital? Would you all go donate blood? That could save someone's life. And they all went down and donated blood. It was really sweet. you know, this is over a
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Five days, six days period. had a lot of hope. When they started warming him up, we thought he was just going to wake up. But once they started warming him up, he was having seizures and he just, his brain had too much injury from lack of oxygen. So then it was just a tough decision of what do do at this point? Is he brain dead or what's going on? So, you know, we fought another day or two and then we got a call the last night and they said, need to get up here. And I guess his heart just finally was giving out.
You know, it was tough because we thought we were going to walk him out of there and that was it. But we fought, everybody fought for five days. Yeah, and you know what's crazy about it looking now, and I've talked to a dear friend that she lost a child at a very young age. It took her about a year, but she said, can I just visit with you? I just feel in my heart of hearts that Blake was already gone with the Lord that night, but he stayed around for you all. He stayed around for his friends. He did it for the fellowship and
Everyone sitting in that room with mask on and just being there. And that would be Blake. Like, I want you guys to be together. And maybe he was looking down and watching and just loving all the community that happened. But it was Saturday and we still had a hope, but we always had to leave at seven at night and that killed me. So I stayed with Blake's girlfriends. They have a house there. She was wonderful. She said, if you get a call, I need to know. going, I said, I
I you, I will tell you. And Saturday, we went and ate and then our friends got us a hotel room and then they were gonna get us an Airbnb. This is how hopeful we were that we would be there for a week, stay. And they just all pitched in and we laid down about midnight and I jumped up and the same doctor that admitted him in the ER was the one that called me. So he's kind of knowing the story and he said, you do not race, but you need to get up here.
We got up there, we called his girlfriend, we called his very best friend. They were up there in the room with us and that was the hardest day of our lives. Yeah, we got to hear his last heartbeat, so it was hard. He said, you know, you have a choice, but please don't put him through this again. Don't do this to him. And he's so smart. So I knew we were not, that's not fair to him. He was just a brilliant kid. So we made that decision.
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We could finally go in and ironically we were both in healthcare where we already had PB in our cars. And we all went in and said our goodbyes and his girlfriend and Parker, his good friend, and then my daughter. Then they left and we just, I couldn't leave him. So we just stayed and I kept telling him what a great son he was and he can go and we love him. the hardest thing to ever do was leave your son at the hospital.
And now he's not coming back. That was what was so hard is to drive home and just not not having with us.
Had to pack up his room and bring everything home. But it was tough. was during COVID. So we were trying to plan the funeral and I didn't know if we could even have people there during COVID. And Oklahoma opened up pretty quick. And this is even before the vaccines were out. But our church allowed us to have the service there and it was standing room only. had people in the lobby watching on the screen.
I decided, said, Blake wouldn't want to be buried in a suit. So we all, we put him in an OVU Jersey and told everybody to wear their favorite jerseys. And it was, it was a kind of a cool touch that he was just a fun celebration. Some more of old mojo outfits from when they played little league. Baseball team. Basketball team. I bet there were 500 people in there. couldn't believe how many people showed up. Or maybe a thousand. don't know. The church was packed and this is Derek COVID.
It was amazing service, but you know, since then, you know, the stories that Kerry talked about before, people coming back and saying, you know, Blake touched me in this way and old football coaches telling stories of him reading to the special needs kids. And I didn't, he didn't ever tell me that. mean, he didn't go home and say, dad, guess what I did? He just did it. Very humble. He was a good kid and he was a joy to raise. Unfortunately, blood clots do run in my family.
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My mom had pregant's DVTs. Two of my sisters have had DVTs during pregnancy, so they had clots in their legs. And that's pretty common during pregnancy. But I ended up having one when I was in my early 20s and my leg was swollen. And then they found out that I had a DVT. So they ran a blood test and they found out that I have a blood clot disorder that's in my family called antithrombin 3 deficiency. Our blood is just thicker than normal. So my mom and two sisters have it. And unfortunately,
We had Blake tested during a knee surgery that he had in 10th grade. They said he didn't truly fully blown have it, but he was kind of borderline and he didn't clot during his surgeries, during his rehab. But I'm afraid COVID kind of attacked your body and it caused a lot of clotting. And I think that's what really attacked his clotting cascade. And he ended up causing him to have a PE. Cause he never has swollen legs. Typically you have a DBT before you have a PE.
and the clot will dislodge from your legs or your arm and go to your lungs. And unfortunately, a PE, not many people survive it. I actually had a mild one when I was in my twenties and I survived it, but Blake's was so massive he couldn't survive it. He was only 21. Strong and healthy. And I think that had a lot to do with it and the hospital, because it was not crowded that night when we took him to the ER. They were not ever stressed that he was a 21 year old, very fit young kid. And it's very easy to dismiss that. And I think
That is what drives us for this is don't dismiss anyone because these are 100 % preventable and anyone can get one at any age. I think the biggest thing is be your own advocate because like I said, we're going to a major hospital and trusting what they say. And this is the third time in a row we've just heard it's COVID. But you know, as a parent, I would lay awake at night going, didn't I go to a different hospital and a different hospital and a different hospital and like.
Bobby said he goes, because you trusted the professionals that can eat me up at night. Well, unfortunately, I think they miss a lot of young people in the ER. I know that the young lady in Florida, Emily, there was a bill passed for her, Emily's law. And, you know, she had, I think, a broken ankle or leg, ended up with a blood clot. And unfortunately, that's what took her life. And it's preventable. I mean, if they would have diagnosed the blood clot with her and then same with Blake, he was having a PE that night.
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He was having shortness of breath and chest pain. And if they would have ran a D-dimer test and a CT scan, they would have known. We'd have a different story today. So it is very preventable, but everybody has to go in and I love this blood clot alliance and putting the awareness out there that, you know, hey, this is what you need to look for. And if you feel this, don't walk out of that ER without an answer. For me personally, when this happened in September, I told you
Previously, I'm in the medical device sales world and I was selling heart valves and it was kind of a stressful job and I just quit. I called my boss and I said, I'm not coming back to work. And the crazy thing is I'm on the phone with my boss and Blake's Jeep is sitting right in front of me and I'm in my truck on the phone with my boss and telling him I'm gonna quit what I thought was my dream job and a Cardinal lands on the top of Blake's Jeep and I said, hold on. And I got my phone out and took a picture.
and I sent it to him and we both start crying. I said, that's a sign from Blake. I what are the chances a red cardinal lands on his Jeep in front of my car? As he's quitting a job and doesn't have another job. And I didn't have a job. I just said, I'm not doing this one more day. And then ironically, I reached out to a friend that I knew in Tulsa and I said, I really love what your company's doing. And it's a company called Penumbra. And they're one of the first companies that they had mechanical thrown back to me that.
goes in and removes clots out of the legs and lungs and saves people's lives every day. And I said, I want to come work to work for you guys. So it's pretty cool that, and I'm telling you the first 10, 20 cases, was, it was hard to watch this and see all the, the clot that we pull out of people's lungs and think, gosh, that could have been my son. He could have had that chance. And I've been doing this five years now. I've been in probably 600 PE cases and it's amazing. After this case, these people will,
come into the room, they're on desk bed, they can barely breathe. And by the end of the procedure, they're back on room air, they can breathe and they're just, my gosh, I feel better, I can breathe. And then you show them the clot that pull out of their lungs and they're just so amazed. And thank you so much. Can you send me that picture? They want the picture of the clot, but it is amazing the amount of clot that people will have in their lungs, but kind of a little history prior to COVID, we really didn't have good devices.
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to do this, was pretty much just blood thinners. So now there are products that will treat this. And if we can diagnose it, we can save their lives. And at least blood thinners, at least get them in and give them TPA or Heparin and help them out. You have to fight and be an advocate. And I think hospitals are getting better. The ERs used to just think, know, blood clots are rare or pulmonary embolisms are rare. There's no way a 21 year old is having a pulmonary embolism. Well, yeah, they can. Anybody can have it.
On this show, when we emphasize being your own advocate, we mean it. A conversation on familial history or charted recognition of increased likelihood could save your life or the life of a loved one, especially among young people who are often overlooked as unlikely candidates for blood clots. Here to discuss clot misdiagnosis of young people and the importance of knowing your family history, this is Dr. Jeffrey Klein.
I'm really glad that you raised the question of young individuals. That's where my current research is focused. Understanding how to diagnose blood clots in teenagers and young adults. It does happen. Not every, but almost every case of where I've seen a 17, 18, 21 year old have a blood clot. There is a family member that had a blood clot and
Almost never did the physician ask about it. And sadly, almost never did the patient or the patient's family tell the physician and sort of push it on them that, you know, my dad had blood clots. We, you know, see cases again and again, including high profile cases where the father of the decedent, the dead person had recurrent DVTs and the doctor never wrote anything about that in the chart, suggesting to me that the doctor never.
knew about it and never raised the awareness that a 17-year-old can get a blood clot. Now, let me tell you about something that's going to be published in the next couple months. That's work we did in 21 hospitals across the United States looking at patients under age 18 who presented with what we think are signs and symptoms of pulmonary embolism in children. When I say what we think is because we don't really know because there's been no study of it. But we found that the actual outcome rate
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of the children who were suspected of having pulmonary embolism in pediatric emergency departments was 6.5%. And that is very similar to adult studies. We believe this is extremely important information, especially if you're a family member who has lost a 17-year-old to pulmonary embolism. And there are many of them out there. Awareness is a key part of it, but telling the doctor about family history is probably half of the answer. It's not all the answer, but it's half the answer.
So you both have gone through something unimaginable, but you are actually using this for advocacy reasons. And let's talk about the Blake Burgess blood clot prevention bill. Bob, I you talked about the Florida bill and Emily Atkins passing and that being the first bill, but you're also doing something in Oklahoma. So let's talk about how you first started thinking about this and where it stands and what you're hoping to accomplish.
And for everybody who is listening to this, how they can also get involved, particularly those folks in Oklahoma. Yeah. So I want to thank you. Yes. Since we met you, this has accelerated the process. My boss and I, we were talking about, we were trying to get with some doctors and maybe get with some of the US senators from Oklahoma and really go big scale. How would we even do this? And it just seemed overwhelming. And where would we start? And thank God.
You guys came into the picture and I think ironically the connection was my company reaching out to the Blood Cod Alliance and asking how we can get involved with awareness of PE and DVT. And the two of us came together and we've fortunately met you. then ironically our local house representative used to be our neighbor that lived right down the street and knew Blake when he was a little kid riding his bicycle up and down the street and
We reached out to him and asked for a meeting and he said, I would love to meet with you and I actually know who you guys are. He's moved from our neighborhood, but he remembered us from the neighborhood. So we had coffee with him and we told him our story and what we want to do. And he said, I am a hundred percent in. So since then he's working with other house representatives and senators in Oklahoma to try to get this bill on the floor this term. we're hoping January, February, we'll get this on the floor and passed. And he said,
Everything Podcasts (32:08.829)
We're going to get this passed. We're going to save some lives. And I'm, I'm just blown away by how many lives we could save with this. And like I told you before, my day in and day out, I'm around blood clots every day. And I'm just amazed how many people are not treated properly in the ER, especially Royal hospitals, that the education and awareness is not out there that these people are having a PE and they dismiss it as something else. They go home and.
Maybe they make it, maybe they don't. And it is preventable. I think like Bobby said too, is we've always wanted to do something to create awareness, but it is so overwhelming. You just feel like a little fish over here in a very big pond. So we are truly grateful for the National Blood Claw Alliance to come in and help us to figure out the process and what we need to do and to help us be a voice and explain how the bill should run. And we're extremely grateful.
Well, it takes a village. It's the two of you, your family, supporting this initiative and the legislators and NBCA. But also there's a lot of hospitals and clinicians in Oklahoma who want to see this go through. Definitely. We had a, as you know, a brief campaign if you're interested in supporting the bill to sign up and contact. And I think we had hundreds of people in like three days that signed up and said, hey, we want to be able to support this. So we need to get those folks involved.
and organized and make sure that they're reaching out to their legislators and saying, hey, this is a very important bill and it will save lives. 100 % this will save lives. So we know that Blake is listening to us right now. I'm convinced of that. What do you think he would say about it? What are his feelings about all this work that you're doing right now and seeing this all play out? I'll leave it to say, well done, mom and dad.
You know, he's so humble. He's saying, you're doing this for me. Yeah. That was my first reaction is he would say, absolutely do it, but you don't need to keep my name and you don't need to. He's just so humble that I could see him saying, just do it. But it is about honoring him and not having this happen to anyone else. This doesn't need to happen. I. Well, if you can put a name and a face to it. Emily was a young, beautiful girl and she died way too soon. That brings awareness.
Everything Podcasts (34:29.831)
But someone that's older, you think, well, you know, they had a good life. But when they're 21, there's so much life to live. And if you could diagnose it, treat it, and then they're on blood thinners for the rest of their life, that would prevent a future clot, then great. You just go down the road. And that's what happened with me and fortunately happened with you. It's something, the awareness needs to be out there. And I'm so honored that we can tag Blake's name to it. And it'll always be the Blake Burgess bill for Oklahoma.
Yeah, no, this is a huge, huge step. And every time you talk about Blake reading to the special needs kids, I kind of envision in my head that he's reading about the bill and helping people and continuing that process of like, hey, you got to read this, you got to see this and we're going to continue to help people. So this is a, this is a really beautiful thing. And I personally am just honored to participate with both of you and get this off the ground. I think.
They had a hand in God and putting you in our lives. So we really do thank you. just also the fact that you're now working with Penumbra. So it's not just the bill, but it's what you're doing professionally too. And the amount of people that that is saving. A lot of folks don't know that this is a new treatment option and how effective it is. So whether or not it is anticoagulation or a mechanical thrombectomy.
There are options. There are options for people. So the way that you've channeled this is, like I said before, it's just amazing to see. Yeah, it's my wife now. You you always wonder, are you making a difference in your job? And is it, is it worthy? And it is rewarding to go in a PE case and see that, that patient go back from a desk bed to their room air and they can breathe and they feel great. And you think, wow, this is cool. We got to save somebody's life today. I love it.
This is the best job I've ever had. is cool. And the impact is immediate. The impact is immediate. Every time we see a Cardinal, we know he's coming to check in. You know, just having a bad day and he'll look outside and there's the Cardinal on the fence saying, got you. Yeah, it is pretty neat. We have a bird feeder back there, but a Cardinal will sit on our back fence in the same spot, probably two or three times a week. And almost always when you need it the most, I'll look out there and there it is. like, I always get a picture up.
Everything Podcasts (36:53.2)
probably 500 pictures of Cardinals on my phone, but I just feel like that's a little mess. It's like, dad, you're doing the right thing. I'm good. But yeah, we miss him so bad. He should be here and I wish he had that chance. And there's a lot of people that fortunately down the road, we can help with this bill with awareness and just getting them to therapy. For sure. And March is blood clot awareness month and this is when this episode will run.
because it's such an important episode and just so many people come to us during the course of the month. So I really think this will go a long way to educating people. Not necessarily for this episode today, but I will tell you, I was on a call with my colleague earlier and we were talking about Blood Cloud Awareness Month and I said, yeah, you know, we're going to do this, this, I feel like, like there's something missing and you know, I keep coming back to sports and athletes and young people and this athlete and da da da da da. And then you guys popped up and I was like,
my God, is that his shirt? And I was like, that's a sign. Yeah, like that's a sign. are the odds of yes. I was like, my God. He's he's pretty amazing. So well done, Blake. Well done Blake. me a hint. Yeah, he's telling you what to do. Totally. I was just gonna say as a mom, and I'm sure Bobby too, the guilt can just eat you up, you know, and
I do get mad. don't know if that went back. don't know. I'm mad they didn't do the proper channels. I'm mad that I have a Christmas without my son. I'm mad that my daughter doesn't get to see her brother. You know, there's a lot of things I get mad at. He's not gonna get married. He's not gonna have children. He's not gonna, you know, help poor Brooke put us in a nursing home one day, whatever it be. But there's a lot of guilt. You can get really angry. So...
Something like this bill, the golf tournament we put on that people support so well, the football banquet that we were able to give a scholarship out really helps us to know that there's a lot of good that's come out of this. Because boy, you can get mad real quick, get angry and have a lot of guilt for sure. Well, we're going to focus on Oklahoma, but then we're going to roll to the federal side. We're going to take this nationally. Yes.
Everything Podcasts (39:16.624)
Blake is going to be with us and we're going to get this done nationally too because we're not stopping ever. I love it. Awesome. Thank you. Ever.
Thank you for joining us on another episode of Taking a Breath. We want to thank Carrie and Bob Burgess for sharing their journey and sharing with us the joy that Blink continues to carry through the world day after day. A special thank you to Dr. Jeffrey Klein for his insight and expertise. For more information on risk prevention and community, please visit stoptheclawt.org. If you wish to aid in our efforts of blood clot awareness, please consider donating to our cause.
at stoptheclot.org forward slash donate. We know the patient because we are the patient. Together with listeners like you, we can collectively stop the clot. For more information, visit stoptheclot.org.
Everything Podcasts (40:17.52)
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