Corning, N.Y. --- Less than two months after suffering a life-threatening pulmonary embolism, Congressman Tom Reed of Corning says he's in good health once again. The health scare occurred less than two days before Reed was to be sworn into office after winning a special election to fill the then-vacant NY-29th District seat.
In an exclusive interview with 13WHAM’s Sean Carroll, Reed and his wife Jean sat down in their Corning home to speak about the blood clot that could’ve ended Reed’s life four days shy of his 39th birthday.
"I feel 100%" Reed said with a smile. That was a drastic improvement over how Reed felt on Sunday November 14 while attending a Congressional dinner in Washington D.C. On Tuesday Reed was scheduled to be sworn in as one of two Representatives aiming to fill a vacancy. While leaving that dinner, the warning signs Reed had been ignoring for weeks finally demanded his attention.
"Right afterwards I went up four stairs walking out of the Capitol and I had to stop and grab a railing,” Reed recalled. “And even then I was playing the stubborn, denial husband." He quickly convinced himself, and his wife, that perhaps he had walking pneumonia and that he would seek out a doctor later in the week.
"To myself it was, we need to get help, to him it was, we need to go to the emergency room,” Jean Reed said. “I said just let's get in the cab and go, go somewhere, go to the hospital Tom, you need help, you shouldn't be so short of breath like that."
“I was stubborn.”
Reed now readily admits he’d been ignoring symptoms of a serious blood clot in his leg for weeks. He says he rationalized the pain; he told himself he'd twisted something while playing basketball with his son.
"I was the typical stubborn husband," Reed said. At the time his Congressional Campaign was in full swing, he ignored the pain, and shortness of breath -- but his wife knew something was wrong.
"I don't think he noticed how much he was complaining about the leg and the pain he had there," Jean said.
The Collapse
Around 1:30 a.m. on November 15, just a short time after the Reed family drifted off to sleep in their Washington D.C. hotel room, Tom was startled awake. He said although the pain in his chest was unbearable, he again tried to rationalize it--maybe it was a pulled muscle in his back?
"The last thing I remember is I went to move my legs off the bed and that's it,” Reed said. “I must've stood up and I collapsed."
Doctors would later explain that the pain was that blood clot that had formed in his leg but was passing through his lungs; a pulmonary embolism.
“If I had been alone it probably would've been a different outcome," Reed said.
Four days later Reed was released from the hospital and finally sworn into office. It was November 18, his 39th birthday, and his daughter Autumn and son Will were at his side. Wife Jean was in the gallery looking on.
"It was very humbling,” Reed said of that moment. “Very, very humbling."
"There really aren't any words, I was just so proud and grateful and thankful that we were able to see the swearing in,” Jean recalled. “It happened, everything went forward and we were going to move forward with everything as we had planned and worked so hard towards."
Life Changes
Since this health scare the Reed has made many changes to his life and lifestyle at the urging of his doctors and his family.
"I still have the clot in my right leg, in my calf. They say that's going to be there about five months...four to six months,” Reed said. “There’s)nothing really they can do about it, just let nature take it's course. The clots in my lungs are pretty much all dissolved and taken care of, which is good."
Reed now takes blood-thinning medicines. He is watching his diet more carefully and has begun working out. He joined a gym in Washington D.C. he swims and exercises each week.
"I walk now, everywhere I go,” Reed said. “The D.C. apartment is about ten blocks from the office so I walk; I walk to work and most of the time I walk home."
Reed’s wife Jean says the little things matter. She insists that her husband text message or call her before he goes to sleep each night; and again the moment he’s awake. In the coming months he’ll work with George Washington University Hospital on an awareness and education campaign for pulmonary embolisms. More than anything else, his message to others is a simple one.
"If you have the symptom, don't be like me. Don't fight your wife, don't fight your family, just call the doctor and say, hey I'm having these symptoms," Reed said. "I firmly realize and understand that if I'm not healthy, I can't do any good."
