A woman has recounted her terrifying ordeal of suffering a dangerous blood clot in her lungs during a 13-hour flight, blaming birth control for the life-threatening incident.

Emily Jansson, 34, was flying from Canada to Dubai International Airport on February 5, 2025, looking forward to a girls’ holiday, when she began feeling “weird chest pains” and persistent coughing.

The mother of two had been asleep for most of the flight and it was only when she got up from her seat that she suddenly lost consciousness, collapsing for an alarming five minutes. “I was waiting for the bathroom and I got this really deep, dull aching pain in my chest out of nowhere,” Jansson recounted.

She sustained injuries during her fall, including a bruised eye and arm, and found herself struggling with her memory immediately after the episode. On landing, which occurred roughly two and a half hours later, she was swiftly taken to Rashid Hospital in Dubai.

Medical examinations, specifically a CT scan and an angiogram, disclosed that she had a bilateral saddle pulmonary embolism, a critical blood clot blocking the principal artery of the lung and its subdivisions.

Doctors, astounded by her survival due to the subsequent delay in medical intervention, proclaimed “it was essentially a miracle” she did not succumb to cardiac arrest, reports the Mirror.

Jansson identified several risk factors that converged to imperil her on that fateful flight; chief among these were remaining seated whilst wearing compression stockings and her use of an estrogen-based contraceptive pill known as Zamine.

This combined contraceptive pill, which includes both progestogen and estrogen, has been linked to an increased risk of blood clots. She’s currently on a regimen of blood-thinning anticoagulant medication to prevent further clotting and is set to continue this treatment for a minimum of six months.

She explained: “I was restricting my body’s blood flow, which contributed to my clot developing. I had little idea about the danger I was in. After taking estrogen birth control for six years before consistently, I didn’t know my risk of blood clots was so high.”

A saddle pulmonary embolism, a rare condition where a blood clot obstructs the artery that feeds the lungs, represents only two to five per cent of all pulmonary embolism cases. Without immediate treatment, it can result in heart failure and is fatal in approximately 30 per cent of cases.

“I was terrified and partly in denial when they told me what I had. I knew someone who had the same thing and how serious it was and I was just freaking out,” Jannson recounted.

Jannson spent six days in hospital receiving thrombolytic therapy and medications to dissolve the clots. Following her discharge, she recuperated for three weeks at a friend’s place in Dubai.

“It’s important that people know about the risks of this particular birth control, Zamine, and the safety of flying. If you’re on a long-haul flight, make sure you move around and let your body breathe,” she urged.

Jannson recounted her harrowing experience, stating: “I was fortunate that there was a doctor on board and some very amazing, competent flight attendants. They essentially saved my life when it shouldn’t have been possible.

“I’m still recovering from this episode, and my body has been through a lot. But I’m hopeful my experience can educate people about the risks of blood clots. And just as a reminder that life is so precious and to just really appreciate it,” she added.