COSTA MESA, Calif. – The Chargers are missing one of their veteran leaders, Russell Okung, who suffered the same medical condition as 81-year-old Carol Albright.
Albright was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism five years ago.
“They said to me it’s a very good thing you got here, to the emergency room when you did, because if it had continued very likely, you wouldn’t have been able to get here, it would have been over,” Albright said.
Doctors told Okung the same thing when he was diagnosed in June after experiencing chest pains. Blood clots were the cause for both the NFL veteran and the retired school principal. For Albright, the clots were found in her left leg.
“My breathing became very shallow. It was hard to take in a large breath,” Albright said.
Dr. Aaron Weinberg of Cedars-Sinai hospital says anyone, at any age, with any lifestyle can fall victim to a pulmonary embolism either due to a lack of movement or because of genetics.
“The first thing people think of when they feel symptoms of shortness of breath, or chest pains, or even back pain, is they think about other conditions. They may think that they’re having a heart attack,” said Dr. Weinberg. “The common theme is that these blood clots, over 95 percent of the times, starting in the legs and they break off and they go to the lungs.”
Today, Albright is still on blood thinning medication, but is doing well. As for the Chargers, they don’t know when Okung will make his return to the field.
“We’re going to check at the end of the month and see where he’s at,” Head Coach Anthony Lynn said.
At this point Okung is just happy to be alive, calling the experience a wakeup call on Twitter. Something Albright is all too familiar with.
“In retrospect, I should have paid more attention to what my body was telling me,” Albright said.
Okung, like Albright, did eventually pay attention and it may have saved his life.