Audry Gaddis was 19 weeks pregnant with her son Harlan when she started noticing leg pain. Her heart began beating irregularly and her breathing became difficult, so she drove herself to the emergency room. After getting blood work, a point of care ultrasound of Audry's heart, then performing a CT scan of her chest, she was diagnosed with multiple blood clots in her lungs that were creating strain on her heart." This sent the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) into action, a multidisciplinary group of specialists who collaborate to make urgent treatment decisions.

Led by Terry R. Bowers, M.D., and bringing in additional expertise from a high-risk OB, the PERT team rushed Audry into a thrombectomy procedure to remove the clots.

The doctors removed several large clots from Audry’s lungs, and she spent the next two days in the hospital for observation. Staying on a blood thinner for the rest of her pregnancy, she was able to avoid any further clotting or complications. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy a few months later and credits the Corewell Health PERT team for saving her and Harlan’s lives.

Corewell Health was among one of the first hospitals in the country to put a team like this together, which is capable of making life-saving decisions in seconds instead of hours or days.