In an early post I talked about endurance athletes and how despite their healthy lifestyle, weight control, cardiovascular health, etc. they could still be impacted by varicose veins.  I specifically referenced the well documented case of George Hicapie who is a world-class cyclist and also had very visible varicose veins.

He’s far from the only professional athlete to be impacted by venous disease.  In 2013 a NASCAR driver, Brian Vickers, was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis.  In a note of irony his first thought that something was wrong when he was cycling with a friend and couldn’t keep up, he was out of breath and started to experience pain.  Vickers had developed a life-threatening condition called deep vein thrombosis (DVT), in which blood clots form deep within the body’s veins – typically, in the legs. In Vickers’ case, one of the clots had broken off and traveled into his lungs, blocking blood flow and causing a pulmonary embolism (PE).  Luckily, Vickers’ caught it in time, if untreated PEs can be fatal.

Being educated on the warning signs Vickers’ new to call his doctor immediately when three years later he noticed a deep bruise and moderate swelling in his right calf.  This time the doctors were quick to diagnose a blood clot reoccurrence by using an ultrasound.

The goal of sharing this story isn’t to alarm anyone into thinking that ever swollen bruise is potentially a DVT or PE but rather to further education.  If the top athletes in the world – while in their prime – can fall victim to venous disease it shows that it can impact anyone.