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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.
Todd Robertson: It's difficult to ignore the what if when looking back at pivotal moments in your life. The game of what if I had done this or what if I had done that? Hovers over every new decision you make. She said what?
Jevon Dewand: Say that again? I said I couldn't breathe. She said, go to the hospital right now and the hospital's right across the street.
Todd Robertson: She's like, now, right now. Go. But what if a seemingly arbitrary experience was the exact moment everything changed? What if in that moment, this instinctual hesitation was the what if that saves your life when you start seeing the
Jevon Dewand: tangibility of other things happening that you can touch the needles, the things and the frantic things that was happening.
And their faces. It was crazy. So now I'm like, okay, I must be in real trouble, you know? And then right then your brain comes in and you like, man, what is going on?
Leslie Lake: Every six minutes, somebody in America dies of a blood clot.
Todd Robertson: We're here to change that statistic. Welcome to Taking a Breath, A Stop the Clot podcast. An
Leslie Lake: award-winning podcast dedicated to bringing awareness of the dangers of blood clots from the Clotting disorders community to the world. I.
Todd Robertson: With the help of many notable blood clot survivors, we are here to give you the knowledge and the skills that you need to prevent this silent killer.
Leslie Lake: My name is Leslie Lake. I am the president of the National Blood Clot Alliance, and I am a blood clot survivor.
Todd Robertson: And my name is Todd Robertson. I am the Patient Engagement Liaison for the National Blood Clot Alliance, and I am a seven time blood clot survivor.
Leslie Lake: And we are here to stop the clot.
When it comes to the impact and resilience of a creative spirit, our ability to endure is what keeps the creative flame alive. From every setback to every victory, our ability to tap into the creative consciousness and share with the world our unique and poignant perspectives on our lived experiences is what life is all about.
Our guest today is someone whose exemplary creative spirit knows no bounds. As a musician, actor, producer, and general creative powerhouse, our guest knows the impact and the power of a positive mindset Here to discuss his experience as both a leader and a blood clot survivor, please join me in welcoming the exceptional Jevon Dewand.
Jevon Dewand: My name is Jevon Dewand. I'm an inspirational music artist. I have a new song out. It's not over. I'm also an actor writer. I started off as an artist, developer, and a choreographer to the stars. So [00:03:00] I wear many hats inside of the entertainment space. I want you to see me as a human being. First of all. You know, my thing is if serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you.
So I always say I just play tennis. 'cause all I do is serve. So I've been serving up opportunities and blessings and gifts and all these things to a lot of different people that I have ran across in my lifetime. So I'll always like to be the conduent of the connection. I. To bring dreams into reality.
You know what I mean? To remind you that you are worthy, you have abundance no matter what your circumstances are. So if you want to look at me, I want to first look at me as just a human being with a calling. And the beautiful thing about my calling is now I know what it is, my purpose, and I finally picked up the phone call.
So that's it. And I just, you know, love to create. I love to see it grow from zero to thousands or seeing something very small and grow it. You know what I mean? So I love to use my vision a lot. I. That experience was confusing, daunting outta nowhere. I was in Orlando playing in flag football with my boys young crew where we always played and flag football and go to flag football tournaments.
And of course it's not that far, about five hour drive. So when I get back, my leg is hurting. I'm thinking I heard it playing football or so I'm like, man, I must have pulled something or something. And it just days passed by, passed by and I kept like, dang, what's going on? My leg is hurting, but it ain't killing me or nothing.
But I also felt kind of sick at the same time, so I went to my boy Reggie house. And at the time his wife gave me a iv. I'm like feeling low. I'm trying to figure out Z-Pack. I'm trying to figure out what it is. I had a play at the time called She Married the Ring and forgot the Man and me, Q Parker, Stevie Bags, mark Couch and Brad James was at Ryan Cameron's live remote, pretty much promoting the play.
And it was hurting so bad, man. I just couldn't even move no more. I said, man, I gotta go.
So I talked to my brother, Mike and I talked to him and he said, man, I said, what's wrong? He said, Malay. He said, man, maybe you should just go see if you got a blood clot or something outta the blue. He's really smart. Uh, 'cause I wasn't thinking that, you know what I mean? And I end up going to urgent care.
And then they sent me a, across the street to the place to see, 'cause they didn't do it, blood clots. And I went in, I had a blood clot in my leg or whatever the case may be. Before I get to that, you know what was crazy is that. I never felt it in my lungs until I walked up the steps. Man, I walked up the steps and it was like I could not breathe.
It was crazy. Like, I'm mean like gasping for breath when I walked, you know, like in the street or on a regular line, it didn't feel it, but when I went up them steps, I was like. Trying to catch my breath over and over again. Over and over again. I couldn't do it. I still didn't know. I wasn't astute about blood clots or nothing like that.
I knew about 'em, but I didn't know, and I was like, man, so then I went to get the ultrasound. They said, a blood clot, and they just finna gimme blood. Then they just send me home. Then they finally, when I'm leaving out the door, they asked the question. She was like, excuse me. Ask your question. Do you have any other symptoms?
I'm on the way out the door. They didn't ask me this in the beginning. I'm about to leave. I got the blood thinners in my hand. She was like, just take these and it's cool Jean. Then she's like, anything else? I said, yeah, sometimes when I'm going up the steps, you know, on the incline, I can't breathe. She said, what?
Say that again? I said I couldn't breathe. She said, go to the hospital right now and the hospital's right across the street. She's like, now, right now. Go. And she like opened the door and she went and she's like, I'm watching you. And I would go across the street and then when I walk into the hospital they was like, what are you here for?
And I said, I got a blood clot in my leg and in my chest when I walk up steps, I can't really breathe. They said, what? And they just started, it was like cold blue. It was like a TV show. Everybody started coming. Cold, cold, cold. Bloom. Bloom. I need a doctor on death. I need a doctor on deck. I went past, everybody sat me in the chair, put something around my arm.
I mean, I was like, I'm confused. I'm looking around like, what? What is going on? And then everybody was just coming. They was coming. It's like, I need a doctor next to him right now. This entire time, so forth and so long, I'm just still confused. I don't know what's going on, but it was very dramatic, you know what I mean?
And it was very, um, fear was starting to try to kick in, even though I be as much positive and you know, strong. But when you start seeing the tangibility of other things happening that you can touch with the needles, the things and the frantic things that was happening in their faces, it was crazy. So now I'm like, okay, I must be in real trouble.
And then right then your brain comes in and you are like, man, what is going on? It was to get me stable. They didn't tell me anything yet. You know what I mean? They were just getting me in the room, running tests. They didn't tell me anything, anything yet. They was just telling me, you know, running tests and going hard on.
Trying to figure out exactly where the blood clots came from. I didn't have no clue or no idea, you know what I mean? So at that time, they were just rushing me through the hospital, so I still didn't know what was going on. And then finally took me in and they came back and told me. But when they told me, they was like, you have a blood clot in your leg.
They never told me about my lungs yet. They just told me it was in my leg. You know what I mean? And after they told me it was in my leg, they was just telling me this and like, we gotta run more tests and see has it traveled yet? And at that point I was thinking to myself like, man, 'cause it's like my brother's name was Eugene Smoke.
He had a blood clot in his leg. And I was talking to him, it was just a couple of months earlier, right? And I was doing a movie dating in Atlanta and I had a screening and I called him on the phone and he was like, yeah man, I can't feel my toes and all this kind of stuff on his leg. And I was like, yeah.
He's like, yeah, but it's gonna look looking good right now man. I'm in here. They told him I gotta go see the heart specialist tomorrow. He has had became so much calcium and built up for so long, it had became hard. So this clot had became tough and they blew it up. And when they blew it up, he told me, okay, man, everything is fine.
Everything's cool. I'm gonna see you tomorrow, but tomorrow never came. So tomorrow never came inside of the scenario or whatever the case may be. So, so that's what's coming into my head right then. I'm like, man, oh my God. So. He wakes up in the middle of the night and it traveled to his lung. It was never in his lung, but it had a little bit of sharp edge on it, and it cut it.
So he woke up saying, I couldn't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe. And he started coughing and when he coughed up blood, they knew it was a problem. They turned him on his side, stole up and so on. So that little sharp edge, and they pretty much killed him. So this is in my brain. They're like, dang, I'm in here with this.
And they finally come in and tell me, now I have five blood clots in my lungs. Bolder sizes, right? They trying to figure out, how [00:10:00] did I get it? I don't know what it is. They go. Do you have high blood pressure? Do you have diabetes? HIV, whatever, all these type of things that they're trying to do. And it's just such a practice.
Like coming in, coming in over and over. I mean, they might've shot me with a needle about 22 times, taking blood, going, going, taking blood, trying to figure it out. 'cause you know that it's a practice. So, and, and they trying to figure it out. They couldn't figure it out. And then they couldn't understand why my oxygen was perfect when I walked in.
I didn't have to go, no my oxygen machine or anything. It was perfect. And they was like, how's your oxygen perfect with five blood clots in your lungs? You know? So all of these things was happening at times. That's the time when tear rolled down my face, because now what I'm going through and how the brain works, it started to connect to me, to my brother.
You know, it's like, dang, he had one and he gone. I got five and I'm still here. At that point I was just crying because I missed him. And at the same time, fear was kicking in more than what fear does. It tries to kick you through the door. It tries to move your faith and your knowing of God out the way because the tangibility of things brings the fear, right, which is understandable 'cause we human.
So that started happening and they kept on working on me. And the biggest part, I think of all of it, the days that I was there and I'm just laying there. And of course the days I'm like, man, I don't even know how I got it. I don't know what's going on. They saying that the travel from here to Orlando was not long enough.
None of that. So this was probably the scariest part when fear all the way was there. Then the doctor pulled up the little chair right next to you, and I have doctor friends, so I know usually when you pull up the chair next to the patient, that ain't a good scenario. And he took a pause and he was just looking at me and he sat there.
It's probably about 10 seconds before he said something, but it felt like 10 minutes. And he said, you pushing my practice today. I said, what? He said, you're pushing my practice today. You going to Orlando? Not long enough. Cholesterol, great blood pressure,
Don Shafer: great.
Jevon Dewand: No diseases. Great. I don't understand. How you have five of these in your lungs and he's like, you know when you have five in your lungs, you know what that means?
That means you miss five heart attacks. 'cause it travels through your heart before it get to your lungs. So he's like, I don't know what to say. And your oxygen is perfect. I've been a doctor pulmonologist for a very long time. I just ain't never seen it. So at that point, of course, tears still coming down my face, but something hit me.
'cause I always reframe my adversity. Right? It hit me. And what hit me was my other brother Rodney, he was born cripple. He was born, his legs don't work. He was born, can't speak, but he can hear vibrations. And he always had the doability right. And the go get itness to go and have a regular life. He pushed past it.
When you're talking about going to your mother house and seeing your brother crawl up the steps with a bowl in his mouth, cooking his own food, and then eat, wash the dishes, and crawl back down the steps, go to work, do all of this with all the things that he was born with. So every time I go through something, I connect back to Rodney and I close my eyes and I think about his scenario.
And how strong he is. You know, he'd still be smiling. And what's so beautiful about this, like he loved emotions and when he played the music, he can't really hear the words, but if he put his hands on the record player and hear the vibration, he know every record you're playing, Michael Jackson, whatever it can tell you right?
Then he'll touch it. He'd be like, PYT, touch it, earth, wind, and fight. Touch it. Get out, band touch it. And this is when I know God is real. So every time I get to what's happening tangible, I start going to my number one slogan I made up. Sight is a blessing, but vision is a gift. And I know that God lives in my brother, in his vision because he can't hear those words, but he can feel the frequency.
He can feel the feel it. So I'm like, okay, let me take that and add it to my scenario right now. Let me start building this fear and taking it out and start building back on faith belief and knowing, not just faith and knowing. Hold up now. He said something big. He said, I've never seen this happen. Oh, so I started listening to what I never seen.
I'm like, okay, he never seen this happen. My oxygen is perfect. Oh, that don't happen, doc. Usually at. Man, I have no, no, it's never happened. Oh, this happened. This happened. So I started taking the pieces that build on my faith and my knowing of God, and I started talking in, I. I caught saying, I'm healed. I'm healed.
I don't, I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healed all day. I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healed. It's gone. It's gone. It's not in my life anymore. This is your body. God, this, I'm healed. I'm healed, I'm healed. I know sheep gone, but sheep be looking out for me. That was my brother Eugene. No, man. I want to have the, the durability and the strength of Rodney and understand that you are here and you're present.
And this is what it is, and so forth and so long. And so that's what I just kept saying. Every day, all day long, every day, all day long, I get out the bed and I start walking inside about it. This is a true story, and I start walking. I start claiming it. I claimed it. I didn't just pray about it. I ordered it like I was ordering for Uber.
I'm ordering that I'm healed. I'm ordering that the blood clots are gone. I'm ordering all of this from God, and I just kept saying it and I kept saying it. I kept saying it. And when I first was talking, I didn't believe it. I just said it. [00:16:00] Nothing to. I believed it. The number one blessing in the world is waking up.
Wake up. Get up, look up, speak up, and say Thank you, God, after that. Number two is health after that. Number three is sharing your beautiful vibration that you have on the highest percentage of your life. Just try to bet 75 to 80%. And you are conquering life. We can't take money with us. We can't take cars with us.
We can't take trophies with us. But what we can take and what we can leave is our legacy on how we helped and changed a person that you don't know. All I wanna say.
Todd Robertson: On this show, we talk often about the nuance between the personalized experiences of blood clot survivors and the contributing factors to their experiences from physical trauma induction to factor five Leiden. Knowing the how and the why of clotting events is an imperative factor in our goal of bringing the number of blood clot related deaths as close to zero as possible.
Here to discuss a myriad of contributing factors to clotting events. This is Dr. Caroline Cromwell from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Caroline Cromwell: We think some of it is actually blood travel travels up through the legs and the taller and bigger we are. We do think that is adding to our risk, that it's tougher to get all the way back to the heart.
That could potentially increase the risk of blood clot development. We encourage coming back to exercising. The complicated part is for on blood thinners. Then contact sports can be complicated. We have to balance protection versus someone bleeding while they're on blood thinners or having trauma.
Leslie Lake: Oh my god, that was amazing.
Thank you. So there were, there were certain parts of your story. I was like, wow, I'm Jovan, and Jovan is me. I also had a car ride that they didn't think was long enough to cause it, and I didn't have the leg pain, but I was going uphill and all of a sudden I couldn't breathe and I had the same, the same situation.
I ended up in the emergency room and they did all kinds of tests on me before they actually checked my, my lungs. And my lungs were full of blood clots. When they finally did check my lungs. But you said, you know, when you're laying there in the hospital bed and you're all by yourself, it is scary.
Dr. Caroline Cromwell: Mm-hmm.
Leslie Lake: And I give you a lot of credit because it sounds like you came out of it faster than I did. Mm-hmm. I mean, I think we're at a, a similar place now in terms of. I have a voice. Mm-hmm. I wanna help other people. I think I was a very selfish person prior to this happening, and sometimes I wonder if it happened for a reason.
Did somebody have a bigger plan for me? Because now I, I have an opportunity to talk to people like you and we can collectively share our voices and help countless individuals. And that's a beautiful thing.
Jevon Dewand: Yeah. Leslie. And here it is. If, if you don't mind me, I'd be remiss not to empower something you just said.
You said, man, I was selfish. And you also said you seem like you came out higher. You know faster than I did is important part I. We're like Germany and Ubon. We in a different lane, but we're going the same direction. But in Germany, you can go fast as you want, slow as you want, right? You got different speeds and different recoveries and differentness.
But the main part is we're going the same way we ended up right here today. No matter how long it took you to get out of your why, your selfishness, whatever the word you want to be when your calling calls. You only have two choices. Pick it up or keep letting it ring. And I'm empowering you today that you picked it up.
I don't care how long it took you, I don't care how short it took you, you picked it up. And what [00:20:00] you're doing today is what's needed. Because right now, this is more than just a podcast I get on podcasts. It's not about a podcast. This is a life cast, right? We casting out life to people. Who's going through it right now as we speak, and who's going to hear your voice?
Every voice and my voice to know that it's not over, man. We walk through it. We walk through the dark, we walk through the valley and you on here speaking, and that's what I call the three Cs. Connections, collaborations, checks. Everybody worry about the checks. I worry about a connection, and then we collaborate their connection.
And I want to empower you to don't stop. Keep telling your story. Tell it loudly. Tell it loudly. Tell it loudly. 'cause I'm telling you that the world tries to mute the power of the glory on the other side. They love to talk about the tragedy and what you're going through. They just don't never like to celebrate what you've been through.
So. Please keep going. We appreciate you. I appreciate you. I'm so glad that God brought us to this place that we can talk and see. And I call it this, it just hit me right now. Make me smile. You know what we're gonna call it? You know, everybody go to the wounded parties, they all sit around and they wounded.
And man, I got this pain, I got this, I got that. I got insecurities, I got this, I got traumas. Everybody wounded. But guess what we got, uh, Leslie, we're going to the scarred party. Sink in the party. Yeah, we healed around here. Okay.
Leslie Lake: And we're lucky not just because we survived. I mean, obviously, yes. But we're lucky because now we can collectively use our voices.
We can get more people involved in this, and we can do something that's never been done before. This is highly preventable. Mm-hmm. And we can make people aware of this so they don't experience what we did. Or your brother or my friends that have lost that, I've [00:22:00] met their loved ones, their daughters, their sons.
This does not have to happen. Mm-hmm. And so you and I walked through something and here we are together, and now we have this like gift to be able to tell people about blood clots and what the signs and symptoms are and prevent this from happening to others. And that to me is the greatest gift of all.
Jevon Dewand: Absolutely. I agree. And I'm glad you used the word gift. I was in speaking in a class the other day and I was telling some new dancers and stuff. I was like, your talent is for you and you can, you know, show your talent off and do all these things, but it won't become a gift until you add two things to it.
Once you add vision and purpose to your talent, it becomes a gift. 'cause that's for somebody else. Our gift is here, our purpose and what our vision is, and we want to help people. This is what we've been through. This is what we made it through. Here's some [00:23:00] things that you can use because now our purpose is to help other people, so now it's a gift.
So welcome, welcome, welcome. Your gift.
Leslie Lake: It's a wonderful gift. Mm-hmm. I wanna just, I mean, this has been such an amazing podcast with you. I wanna just touch on one thing. Talk to us about the music. Okay. So it's not over. I know you had a lot of things that were thrown at you, your dad, the shooting. Mm-hmm.
The blood clots, all five of them. What that music means to you and what you want people to learn from that music.
Jevon Dewand: That's a great question. One of my first songs was Blessings Get To Raining On Me. On Me. And most people, when I keep telling them it's not a song, it's a reminder of my story, everything is a story.
If you listen to my first album, it's called Without You. There would be no me. I'm talking about God and my dad. My last conversation with my father, I was on my way to the barber shop. I take a left or right. As soon as I get to the red light, my spirit hit me and said, go see your father right now. So I didn't go to the left.
I went to the right. I went seen. My dad went in his room, we held hands, and something told me to record that conversation, audio. I recorded it, and that was the last conversation we had, and I put it through the thread of my album on purpose because I wanted people to feel the real reality of having love from the beginning to the end.
The true testament of love, the true testament of support, the true testament of how my dad talked about God and how much he said he loved me. That wasn't just on his dying bed, that was when he was living and alive as well. He always had a big heart. And I want to show what true love is from when you say death to us part, it's just not marriage with a woman and a man.
It's, it's the marriage of life.
Leslie Lake: This will touch people. This will really, really touch people. And also you give people hope because not everybody comes out of it the way that you and I have. And I wanna give people hope. Mm-hmm. I want them to listen to you. I want them to listen to me, and I want them to have that hope that things will get better.
And there's power in that positivity. Mm-hmm. And I know it's hard. I've lived it, I've walked it. But there is power in the positivity. There's power and hope. And your music gives that to people and your story.
Jevon Dewand: Yours as well. So we're just a reflection of each other. And I wanna make sure I get your, um, address.
I have a new book that I'm doing a little bunch of quick read books, but this one is called Repair Your Mindset, and it's called the 30 twos I use Daily. So it's just like a little quote book, and then the quote book. You read the quotes, and then the quotes tell you what I do. And then it's a little passage at the bottom so you can write in what you're going to do.
So it's always steps, like I was telling Eric. Motivation is cool. Who's ever listening to this? We want to give you awareness. We want, I know [00:26:00] you feel our hearts because our hearts is big for everybody that's listening to what we're saying right now, but what's important is, is when you leave listening to Leslie and I, what do I do?
So it's a activation that we have to make sure you have to prevent things. You prevent things by downloading new information to not doing it. I think I talked about it a little bit. I know Leslie will too, about everybody to prevent about blood clots and have some awareness about blood clots, and let's take that blood clots and use this to my book called Repair Your Mind.
It's not just only blood clots. That you can have in your heart and your lungs on your leg or in your brain, but a lot of times we are walking around here with a bunch of clots and it might be clots of, I can't make it. I don't have favor, they forgot about me. I'm not worthy. I don't deserve the abundance, my economics and my family structure.
I am not. And I am not. Those are clots too.
Leslie Lake: Absolutely.
Jevon Dewand: And they're just as detrimental as the other clocks that Leslie and I survived. So let's clear the clocks out by doing what? Repairing the mindset. So I want to share that book with you guys, and I want you to just take whatever you can take, and I promise you that if you adopt and adapt and download this into your life, some magic is going to happen for you.
So we're here to activate you, not just motivate you.
Leslie Lake: And stop the clot. That's what our goal is. Here to stop the clot.
Mix: That's it. Stop the clock. Love it. That's good. I like that. All of them. All of them got the go.
Leslie Lake: This has been amazing. I wanna thank Jevon for being here today. Your story inspired. Me,
Jevon Dewand: thank you.
Leslie Lake: Uh, and I know I have some more work to do in myself after listening to you, but, um, sometimes we need a help in hand when we get tired and, uh, pull the other person up. And I know it's going to inspire so many people, uh, once they listen to this. Uh, I don't even wanna call it a podcast. I don't know what we're calling it, but this was.
This was amazing, so thank you.
Jevon Dewand: Thank you, thank you as well. I think it's gonna be so great. I'm going to share it myself. When you give it to me, I'm gonna put it all on my pages and my freeing pages. I think this story, like, I know what you're saying too, it's not a podcast like it's, I think collectively with all of us.
I think there's this just going to bring. Not just information to people, but like you say, hope, but also activating that hope to the knowing. And I want to keep saying that. We gotta get to the knowing of it, knowing of God, knowing that it can happen. Knowing. Knowing. Knowing, knowing, knowing. And that's the part that's important for everybody that's listening out there, man.
And we all get tired. I'm tired, my mom going through it right now. Life. Life. I'm going to the doctor and you know, she is the doctor right now. All of these things. And I took this time out to do this and then I'll call her after that because I told her this was just super important. 'cause there's so many people going to the doctor and so many people dealing with different things and so many people homeless and abused and all these things.
And this is super important for you guys to share this. With the world, because we're talking about clocks and stopping the clocks, but we're also talking about inspiring you to know that you can be any and everything you desire. You have the power, you have the favor, and you are worthy,
Leslie Lake: and that's beautiful.
We're gonna end it right there cannot be. Cannot be said better.
We want to thank Jevon one more time for sharing his experience with us today. And thank you to the exquisite Dr. Caroline Cromwell for her insight and expertise. As always, thank you for joining us on another episode of Taking a Breath. For more information on risk prevention and community, please visit stop the clock.org.
Todd Robertson: We know the patient because we are the patient. Together with listeners like you, we can collectively stop the clot.
Don Shafer: For more information, visit stop the clot.org.
Another Everything Podcasts Production. Visit everythingpodcasts.com, a division of Patterson Media. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast.