Houston woman hit with $5,000 prescription to survive pregnancy, hopes to raise awareness on the issue

HOUSTON - Lonnice McCaskill-Thomas says the weeks leading up to her September 7 delivery date have been stressful.

Last year while vacationing in Florida, a medical emergency two months after she delivered her third child caused her to begin taking blood thinner medication, after suffering from a pulmonary embolism.She was having problems eating, and began to cough up blood," says her husband Emmanuel. "Her temperature was very high. LATEST HOUSTON NEWSShe was rushed to the hospital.

That's when the doctor there was able to find out she was suffering from blood clots."McCaskill-Thomas was then prescribed Warfarin, a blood thinner commonly used to treat and prevent blood clots, and stayed on it for a total of six months."The doctor told us, in most cases they don't find out this is the problem until after that person dies, during the autopsy," her husband says.Lonnice McCaskill-Thomas pictured with her daughter.

Lonnice, a 30-year-old Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, receives her medical care through the VA system.As she and her husband prepared for their fourth child, they tell FOX 26 that her VA medical records from Florida were not transferred to Houston until she was 8 months pregnant.Their local doctor immediately prescribed a stronger blood thinner, called Heparin.