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'Real Housewives' Star NeNe Leakes 'Thankful To Be Alive' After Blood Clots Found In Lung

BEVERLY HILLS (CBSLA.com) — NeNe Leakes, the star of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," said she was "thankful to be alive" after blood clots were discovered in her lung.

In a statement on her website, Leakes said she went to the hospital late last week when she experienced shortness of breath.

After some tests, the reality star and "Glee" guest star said she was diagnosed with blood clots.

"I'm told this happened to me because of the constant traveling around the country that I do for my job," Leakes wrote.

KCAL9's Brittney Hopper spoke with Dr. Clark Fuller, a specialist in thoracic surgery, who said blood clots travel to the lungs from a vein in the leg and can occur when a person has been sitting in the same spot for too long.

Fuller added that blood clots in the lungs can be fatal and is more common among women than men.

"I think we tend to see it a little bit more in women simply because the blood returns from your foot back to your heart based on muscular contractions," he said.

With the holidays around the corner, Fuller advised travelers to move their feet back and forth if they're on an airplane and to take breaks by stretching if they're driving for a long period of time.

"Go to great lengths to prevent with hydration, mobility, exercise, and then have a very low threshold of reporting symptoms that they consider out of the ordinary," Fuller said.

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