A ‘young, beautiful, healthy’ Aussie woman has died suddenly of deep vein thrombosis just weeks after her dream trip to Japan.
24-year-old Christine Visnjic, from Western Sydney, woke up on January 10 with a sharp pain in her leg and discovered it was swollen and red.
Her father started driving her to nearby Westmead Hospital but during the journey she vomited and suffered seizures and cardiac arrest.
She fell unconscious and two nurses who happened to be following in another car came to her aid. An ambulance carried her the rest of the way to hospital.
Just three days after she complained of the pain in her leg, scans showed Christine was brain dead and her family made the tragic decision to turn of her life support.
Tests showed Christine had suffered a bilateral stroke as a result of a blood clot in her leg that travelled to her heart, and then her brain.
The clot was a result of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a condition that in rare cases can arise from plane travel.
Christine’s brother Jason Visnjic, who has started a GoFundMe page to raise the funds for her headstone, described her as a ‘young, beautiful, healthy girl, full of energy and love for others, whose life was tragically cut short’.
Jason said the family was still searching for answers over the sudden death. Christine had returned from a three-week holiday to Japan a month prior to January 10, but it’s not clear if the trip was the cause of her DVT.
‘It’s unbelievable, just unbelievable,’ he told Yahoo News. ‘Who would’ve thought – 24 years old and getting a blood clot that becomes so fatal.
‘I was talking to a doctor and I asked him “how often do you see this?” and he said to me “a case like this, we do know about it in literature. In my career of 44 years in the ICU, this is the second time,” and he started crying,’ he told Yahoo News.
‘We embraced her and watched her pass. For about 20 minutes her heart was independent and we just slowly saw it all go away – and she doesn’t even know.’
Jason wanted his sister’s death to ‘at least echo a message to all the young women and men out there’ to be on alert for health issues and cherish life.
‘Don’t just go chasing work. There are many lessons to take away. Luckily for her, Christine still managed to enjoy her life till her prime, both at career and social level.’
To prevent DVT on a plane, you should move around regularly by walking up and down the aisle every couple of hours.
Perform leg exercises while seated, stay well hydrated by drinking plenty of water, and avoid excessive alcohol.
Consider wearing compression stockings if you are at high risk and consult your doctor if you have concerns about DVT, especially if you have any pre-existing medical conditions.