Chris Bosh built a Hall of Fame career on durability. Then he lost that career to something no training staff could tape up. Now, nearly a decade after his last NBA game, the two-time champion says the same condition nearly killed him again. In an interview published by HoopsHype, Bosh revealed that he suffered a pulmonary embolism in January. He spent a week in the hospital. “I thought I was past it. I am not,” he said.

Bosh, now 42, first spoke about the collapse in February. At the time, he told followers he woke up covered in his own blood after blacking out at home. Here is what happens inside the body during a pulmonary embolism, why the condition keeps striking elite athletes and which warning signs warrant an emergency room visit.

What’s happening in your body

A pulmonary embolism blocks one of the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the lungs. According to the Mayo Clinic, the clot usually forms first in a deep vein in the leg. It then breaks loose and travels upward through the bloodstream until it wedges somewhere it does not fit. Doctors call that original leg clot deep vein thrombosis, or DVT. Together, the two conditions fall under one umbrella term: venous thromboembolism.

Once the clot lodges in the lung, blood cannot reach the tissue behind it. Oxygen levels drop as a result. Meanwhile, the right side of the heart pushes harder against a suddenly closed road. If the blockage is large enough, that chamber can fail within minutes.

Bosh described the onset as instant in his Substack newsletter, The Last Chip. He was walking from his closet to the bathroom, he wrote, “when my body turned on me.” He remembers a numbing sensation shooting down his left leg, and then nothing.

Causes of pulmonary embolisms

Most pulmonary embolisms trace back to three overlapping conditions known as Virchow’s triad. Blood clots too easily. Blood moves too slowly. The vessel wall itself sustains damage. Any single factor can start the process, but the combination is far more dangerous.

Common triggers include surgery, hospitalization and long stretches of immobility. Serious injury, cancer treatment, pregnancy, smoking, obesity and estrogen-based medications also raise risk, as do inherited clotting disorders. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ties more than a third of diagnosed cases each year to a recent hospital stay. Most of those clots do not surface until after the patient goes home.

Race matters here too, though researchers are still untangling why. One team of researchers followed participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study for more than two decades. They found crude incidence rates 65% higher among Black participants than white participants. A higher burden of underlying risk factors explained most of that gap, rather than race itself. In other words, much of the difference is potentially modifiable.

Dr. Dacia Russell Goman, a dual board-certified emergency and obesity medicine physician and founder of Apex Metabolic, sees that pattern clinically. “Health outcomes are shaped by far more than genetics,” she said.

Obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, limited mobility, chronic inflammation and barriers to preventive care all influence clot risk, according to Russell Goman. Delayed diagnosis and uneven access to care widen the gap further. She frames the fix as a conversation rather than fear. Patients should tell their doctors about hormone therapy, pregnancy, recent hospitalization, surgery, cancer, family history or prolonged travel, because those details determine whether preventive measures make sense during higher-risk stretches.

Health risks and complications

Pulmonary embolism does not announce itself politely. The CDC estimates that venous thromboembolism affects up to 900,000 Americans each year. Between 60,000 and 100,000 of them die. More alarming still, sudden death is the first symptom in roughly 25% of pulmonary embolism cases. That means a quarter of patients never get a chance to describe what they feel.

Survivors face a longer road than most people expect. About one-third will have another clot within 10 years. In addition, a registry study in Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis tracked 896 patients for up to 14 years. It reported 1-year mortality of 19.7% and 5-year mortality of 37.1%. Cancer and cardiovascular disease drove much of that excess risk.

Two long-term complications deserve attention. Post-thrombotic syndrome causes chronic swelling, pain and discoloration in the affected limb. Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension narrows the lung’s blood vessels permanently, and it can prove fatal on its own.

The CDC estimates that as many as 70% of healthcare-associated blood clots are preventable, using measures such as anticoagulant medication and compression stockings. Yet fewer than half of hospital patients receive them. Before you or a loved one leaves the hospital after surgery or a long stay, ask the care team directly about a clot-prevention plan.

Why are so many pro athletes getting blood clots?

It feels counterintuitive. The fittest people in the country keep turning up with a condition most associate with sedentary living. Yet the athletic calendar quietly satisfies every part of Virchow’s triad. Athletes fly constantly and sit immobile for hours. They sweat off fluid volume, absorb the blunt trauma that injures vessel walls and then sit still again while those injuries heal.

Dr. Benecia Williams, a double board-certified physical medicine and sports medicine physician at PMR Fort Worth, points to the same triad. “Sitting on a plane for long periods of time or in a car without walking around can lead to venous stasis,” she said. “Then a clot can form.”

Injury recovery worries her most. “Reduced mobility doesn’t mean no mobility,” Williams said. Walking, even a little, keeps that pump working. The real danger arrives when an athlete cannot bear weight on a limb at all, usually after surgery. Care teams often start preventive medication during that window.

The numbers back her up. A 2017 review in Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine identified 55 venous thromboembolism events across the NHL, MLB, NFL, and NBA between 1999 and 2016. The mean age at diagnosis was 29.3 years, and athletes lost an average of 6.7 months of playing time. Seven never returned. Notably, players who had a pulmonary embolism rather than a leg clot alone missed the most time, averaging 10.8 months.

A second problem hits contact sports. “Blood thinners prevent your blood from clotting normally,” Williams said, adding that she would worry about a brain bleed if head-to-head contact occurred. That collision of medicine and profession ultimately ended Bosh’s career. Spurs star Victor Wembanyama faced a version of the same math after a deep vein thrombosis cut short his 2024-25 season. As Hoops Rumors notes, Bosh’s advice to him was blunt: “Take your medicine.”

What to do about pulmonary embolisms

Chris Bosh’s case of pulmonary embolism illustrates what long-term management looks like. Treatment starts with anticoagulants, commonly called blood thinners. These drugs do not dissolve an existing clot. Instead, they stop it from growing and give the body time to break it down. For severe cases with unstable blood pressure, doctors may add thrombolytic drugs to dissolve the blockage. Sometimes they remove it through a catheter-based procedure.

Duration varies. A clot provoked by surgery or a temporary injury may require only a few months of medication. However, an unprovoked or recurrent clot often means indefinite treatment. That is the situation Bosh describes. He told HoopsHype that he takes his medication every day and monitors the condition constantly. He expects to manage it for the rest of his life.

Prevention matters for anyone with elevated risk. Move regularly on flights and long drives. Stay hydrated. Walk soon after surgery once your care team clears you. Maintain a healthy weight. Finally, tell every new provider about any personal or family history of clots. Because cardiovascular strain compounds other risks, managing chronic stress belongs on that list, too.

When to see a doctor

Call 911 or go to an emergency room immediately for sudden shortness of breath, sharp chest pain that worsens with a deep breath or coughing up blood. The same applies to a racing heart, lightheadedness or fainting. These are emergency symptoms, not wait-and-see symptoms.

Seek same-day care for signs of a clot in the leg or arm. Watch for swelling in one limb, unexplained pain or cramping, warmth or skin that turns red or discolored. Catching a deep vein thrombosis before it travels remains the single best way to prevent a pulmonary embolism.

One caution bears repeating: symptoms can be subtle or absent entirely. Bosh initially dismissed his 2015 chest pain as a rib injury. Russell Goman calls the condition one of the great “medical imitators.” Patients often arrive with vague complaints such as mild breathlessness, chest discomfort, a fast heart rate, fatigue, or anxiety. Those overlap neatly with muscle strain, viral illness, asthma and panic attacks.

She knows the pattern personally. During medical school, Russell Goman developed pulmonary emboli in both lungs after a long flight while taking hormonal contraception. Calf pain came first, and she wrote it off as travel soreness. “Even with medical training, I didn’t put the pieces together until the clot had traveled to my lungs,” she said.

Her advice is to hand over the whole story rather than a diagnosis. Mention recent travel, leg swelling, pregnancy, hormone therapy, surgery, cancer treatment, prior clots and family history. “Those details can completely change how we think about your symptoms,” Russell Goman said. If something feels wrong and you cannot explain it, get evaluated rather than reassured by the internet.

Bottom line

Chris Bosh’s pulmonary embolism story is a reminder that elite fitness offers no immunity from blood clots. A clot survived once can return years later, and Black Americans carry a measurably higher burden of risk. Knowing the warning signs and taking anticoagulant treatment exactly as prescribed is the difference between a hospital stay and a fatality.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the number one cause of blood clots?

Prolonged immobility is the leading contributor, which is why the CDC ties more than a third of diagnosed clots each year to a recent hospitalization.

What is the life expectancy for someone after a pulmonary embolism?

Most people who get prompt treatment survive, though registry data shows roughly 19.7% of patients die within one year and 37.1% within five years, largely because of cancer, heart disease and age rather than the clot alone.

Citations

Mayo Clinic. Pulmonary embolism – Symptoms and causes. Mayo Clinic. Published December 1, 2022. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pulmonary-embolism/symptoms-causes/syc-20354647

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data and Statistics on Venous Thromboembolism. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published January 27, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/blood-clots/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

Folsom AR, Basu S, Hong CP, Heckbert SR, Lutsey PL, Rosamond WD, Cushman M. Reasons for Differences in the Incidence of Venous Thromboembolism in Black Versus White Americans. Am J Med. 2019;132(8):970-976. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30953632

Bishop M, Astolfi M, Padegimas E, DeLuca P, Hammoud S. Venous Thromboembolism Within Professional American Sport Leagues. Orthop J Sports Med. 2017;5(12):2325967117745530. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5753956

Eckelt J, Hobohm L, Merten MC, Pagel CF, Eggers AS, Lerchbaumer MH, Stangl K, Hasenfuß G, Konstantinides S, Schmidtmann I, Lankeit M, Ebner M. Long-term mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism: results in a single-center registry. Res Pract Thromb Haemost. 2023;7(5):100280. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37601025

Hill A. Chris Bosh Reveals Near-Fatal Health Scare, Offers Advice To Victor Wembanyama. Hoops Rumors. Published August 3, 2026. https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2026/08/chris-bosh-reveals-near-fatal-health-scare-offers-advice-to-victor-wembanyama.html

Wimbish J. NBA Hall of Famer Chris Bosh details ‘terrifying’ health scare after waking up ‘covered in my own blood’. CBS Sports. Published February 26, 2026. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-hall-of-famer-chris-bosh-health-scare