Sticky Blood, Steady Hope: Antiphospholipid Syndrome Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), the condition some call sticky blood. Writers came to it through a clot in a leg or lung, a stroke at twenty-nine, a heart attack at fifty-one, a curtain over one eye, a cold white foot, a clot in the belly, repeated miscarriages or a baby born ten weeks early, and some were first told it was anxiety, MS or varicose veins. Contributors include a shipyard welder, a warehouse manager, a night-shift nurse, a long-haul trucker, a teenager diagnosed during exams, a rugby flanker told to give up contact sport, and a husband standing beside his wife. They write from Manchester to Manila, Seville to Halifax. Treatments include warfarin, in one case for thirty years, a newer tablet that did not suit one writer, twice-daily injections through pregnancy, hydroxychloroquine, IVF alongside clotting care, and a home blood-test meter fought for through insurance. Daily life covers counting leafy greens, the question of a Saturday beer, heavy periods, dental work and operations, long flights, menopause without oestrogen, bruises and falls, and fear of one's own legs after a clot. Some stories are hard: one writer spent seven weeks in intensive care, and another had three early losses and no baby. Others arrive at ordinary, steady days.

Who it's for

For anyone newly diagnosed with APS or years into blood thinners, people facing pregnancy loss or planning a pregnancy, and the partners and families who stand beside them.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 233 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.