Alex Crum 1992-2007
Our daughter Alex was an amazing person. She was so funny and witty and her smile and laugh made you want to do the same. She was truly as beautiful on the inside as out. Alex was a sophomore in high school when she passed away very suddenly from a pulmonary embolism. She died just three weeks short of her 16th birthday. She was so excited to turn 16 and to get her drivers license. She was very athletic and participated in many school activities. She played soccer on the high school team and was in the ski club. She was also on the Girls Varsity Golf team. She had a passion for all things outdoors and loved to try it all. Tennis, golf, soccer and snowboarding, she was a natural athlete. The pain we feel losing Alex is indescribeable and has not lessened with time. Our hearts are forever broken, our loss beyond measure.
Our daughter was prescribed Accutane which is a government mandated drug that requires women to take the birth control pill while taking accutane. We learned later that this drug has been taken off the market. She had only been taking the pill for five months when she developed a blood clot in her leg that broke loose and traveled to her lung, killing her. We found out after she had died that she also had a gene called Factor V. Having this gene significantly raises your chances for developing blood clots. Since that day we have done numerous amounts of research to find out more. What we discovered is rather shocking. A simple blood test could have saved our daughter’s life. Had we known and done the test, we would have learned that she was a Factor V carrier and that she should not take any type of birth control pill. We didn’t know that the birth control pill she was prescribed was a third generation pill containing Desogestrel which alone doubles your chance for developing a clot. Someone with the Factor V gene raises that risk five fold. We want to make sure that women are warned about this so they can make a sound decision. We are now on a mission to raise awareness of this condition so we can help others.
♥♥♥ We love and miss our daughter Alex XOXO ♥♥♥