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Protein S Deficiency: A Genealogical Clue Hidden in Plain Sight
Do you know your family’s health history? That “annoying” question doctors always ask might be more important than we realize. This post shares how my own health scare pushed me to read death records with new eyes.
FAMILY HEALTH TRAITSPROTEIN S DEFICIENCYMEDICAL CONDITIONS
Wayne Karl Driver
9/26/20251 min read
Every time I saw a new doctor, the same question came up: “Do you know your family’s medical history?” I’d usually give a quick answer—mentioning diabetes here, high blood pressure there—without much detail.
That changed the day I found myself in the emergency room with a blood clot in my lungs. It turned out I carry an inherited condition called Protein S Deficiency. Until that moment, I had never heard of it, and I certainly hadn’t connected it to my family’s story.
Curious (and a little shaken), I pulled out my grandmother’s death certificate. It listed her causes of death as Cerebral Vascular Accident (stroke) and Arteriosclerotic Cardiac Disease (heart disease). Neither of those words spelled out Protein S Deficiency—but they did hint at clotting and circulation issues that might run deeper than I realized.
The lesson? Death certificates are more than just names, dates, and burial places. Sometimes, tucked away in that hard-to-read handwriting, are clues about health conditions that shaped our ancestors’ lives—and may still echo in ours.
So the next time you’re tracing your family tree, don’t skip past those “cause of death” lines. They might help you piece together not just history, but also health patterns. And who knows? The next time a doctor asks about your family history, you may have a better answer than ever before.
✨ Genealogy leads to better knowledge!
Disclaimer: This post was edited with AI assistance for clarity. All research and reflections are my own.
