Overview

• In August 2023, Matthew Allick collapsed at work after a massive pulmonary embolism triggered cardiac arrest and was declared clinically dead for several minutes before revival
• Scans found cricket-ball-sized clots on his heart and lungs, which surgeons removed using catheter-based procedures alongside multiple blood transfusions
• After emerging from a three-day coma he described the experience as feeling like a peaceful sleep and faced a lengthy rehabilitation to regain basic functions
• He estimates he has recovered about 75% of his pre-illness health but will remain on lifelong anticoagulant therapy
• He draws attention to the shortage of ethnically matched blood supplies and the importance of diversifying donors to improve outcomes for Black heritage patients