FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — They can kill you in an instant.
According to the CDC, blood clots are responsible for more deaths every year in the United States than breast cancer, AIDS and car crashes combined.
A Fernandina Beach family's grief led the state of Florida to become leaders in the fight against blood clots.
January 4 is an indelible date for the Adkins family. Doug and Janet Adkins spent the morning of January 4 at their daughter Emily's grave.
"Every day is hard, especially on the day that would have been her 25th birthday," said Emily's mother Janet, "but we draw strength in trying to be helpful to others."
Emily Adkins died of complications from a blood clot in October 2022. She was just 23 years old.
"Our hope is we can help another family avoid the pain and anguish that we live with every day, that's part of our daily walk now," said Emily's father Doug.
The 'Emily Adkins Prevention Act' was passed unanimously through the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis. Part of the law makes Florida the first state in the country to have a designated policy workgroup to make recommendations for the detection and treatment of blood clots.
"It's important to have the data so we can improve the standard of care as it relates to blood clots," said Janet Adkins. "Pulmonary embolisms are killing people and they're indiscriminate about what age these individuals are."
More information about the Emily Adkins Prevention Act and the workgroup can be found by clicking here.
January 4 continues to be an important date for the Adkins family. On the day that would have been their daughter's birthday, Florida's Surgeon General appointed the Director of Pulmonary Hypertension at UF to be the chairman of the workgroup.
"Everybody has a blood clot story or knows someone with a blood clot story," said Doug Adkins, "all of them are potentially life threatening and can take someone tragically, as was the case with our daughter."
And for another way to help others, the Adkins family established a scholarship in Emily's honor for students pursuing college degrees in the healthcare field. Applications for that scholarship opened on an important date for the Adkins: January 4th.
Applications for the Emily's Promise scholarship will be accepted until March 4th and more information about the scholarship can be found by clicking here.
More information about the Emily's Promise Foundation and the Adkins family's fight against blood clots can be found here.