“I guess I could’ve died,” says Ellen Whitney of Hillsdale, who suffered blood clots in both lungs days after getting Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. Fortunately, an acute care clinic director sent Whitney straight to the hospital, where she spent five days getting treated with blood thinners and painkillers.

Now out of hospital and recovering, the 62-year-old graphic artist tells what it was like to join the few patients who experienced this rare side effect. Whitney says that she is “totally pro-vaccine” and that what happened to her was a “freak occurrence” — and, “After having this shot, just beware. If you feel sick, just go to the doctor.”

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