Widow Shares Information About DVT

War correspondent David Bloom was covering the war in Iraq when his death took America by surprise.  He wasn't killed by an insurgent attack or roadside bomb.  His widow says Bloom's quiet killer could strike any family in America.  The News On 6's Chris Wright reports David Bloom was struck down by a blood clot.

Melanie Bloom, David Bloom's wife, spoke at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa on Tuesday night to raise awareness about the disorder.

Correspondent David Bloom was embedded with the Third Infantry Division at the beginning of the war in Iraq in 2003.  He filed reports for the Today Show, and other programs, as the division made its way toward Baghdad.  Then one day in April, he suddenly collapsed and died.

"It's so hard to not get to say goodbye, and to have something like this just take your life so abruptly," said Melanie Bloom.

David was killed by a condition his widow Melanie had never heard of:  deep vein thrombosis or DVT.  It developed in his legs after he spent his nights sleeping in a cramped tank.

"At the time, I thought it was just some rare freak thing that took his life, but I learned that more people die from DVT each year than AIDs, breast cancer and car fatalities combined," said Melanie Bloom.

For the past four years, Melanie has toured the country, talking to groups like this about the dangers of DVT.  Her message has resonated with hospitals like Saint Francis, which says it has become more pro-active about preventing dangerous clots.

"There's over two million affected a year in the United States by blood clots, so that's a lot. We want to make sure we try to prevent it," said Jeanine Gray with Saint Francis.

Melanie, who now lives in Connecticut with her three children, still struggles with the loss of her husband, but says speaking about DVT has helped her make some sense of David's death.

"Time helps, and also the work with the coalition has given me a way to channel that grief and try to transform a tragedy into something positive," said Melanie Bloom.

Health officials say people who are immobile, like patients laid up in the hospital, have the greatest risk of developing blood clots.