Perth mother warned after silent blood clots killed her son

By Lisa Edser for Daily Mail Australia

09:12 May 13, 2024, updated 09:13 May 13, 2024

A Perth mother is warning people about a silent and common genetic mutation that caused blood clots that killed her son.

Graham Wild, 15, had just returned home to Perth after the end of the school year in Canberra and was walking near his mother’s house when he collapsed in late 2022..

The teen was almost home when he sent his mother Kathryn Robinson a one-word message: “HELP!”

Mrs. Robinson immediately called her son. He said his heart was pounding, he was cold and clammy and he was unable to go home.

She told 7News she found her son near a neighbor’s house, sitting on the sidewalk.

They got in their car and “ran” the six-minute drive to a hospital in Joondalup.

“They were doing an X-ray. That’s when his heart stopped,” she said.

Graham’s condition deteriorated rapidly and when doctors suspected he might have a blood clot, the drug intended to destroy it was administered too late.

Doctors and nurses performed CPR for an hour and a half, but too much time had passed, so even if he was resuscitated, the teen would have suffered catastrophic brain damage.

Mrs. Robinson stayed by her son’s side throughout the night, returning home in the morning to tell her siblings the terrible news.

She said her thoughtful, mature son loved soccer and tee-ball and wanted to one day open an animal sanctuary.

It took seven months to establish that Graham’s death was caused by a genetic mutation in the F5 gene, which provides the instructions for making factor V, a clotting protein.

The condition is known as Factor V Leiden (FVL) and, according to the Perth Blood Institute, it increases the risk of blood clots, “primarily in the legs and lungs.”

Once they discovered Graham’s cause of death, the family were tested for the disease and discovered that Mrs Robinson and her four-year-old daughter carried the genetic mutation.

Professor Ross Baker, president of the Perth Blood Institute, told 7News one in 20 Australians have it.

“In families, one in two people will inherit it, so it’s very common,” he said.

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Professor Baker said it was important for Australians with a history of thrombosis to have a blood test to see if they carry the hidden gene.

Ms Robinson said her family was unaware of the test.

“I wish we knew that a simple blood test could have saved our son’s life,” she said.

In retrospect, there were signs that Graham might not be well.

When the science-loving teenager, who loves anime, chess, ants and reptiles, got off the plane from Canberra, he was struggling to breathe.

But because Graham had asthma, he thought it was a minor flare-up and used his inhaler.

The morning he collapsed, he woke up later than usual, tired, but since he had been playing video games all night, no one was alarmed.

His devastated mother wants to raise awareness for other families to get tested for FVL and avoid the loss of a loved one caused by uncontrolled blood clots.