LOS ANGELES — A 38-year-old podcaster, Youtuber, and actress faces an uncertain future. But at least she’s reporting it all with smiling emojis and a care-free attitude.
Ms. Justine Ezarik is known to her fans as “iJustine.” She is a social media star with follower counts of over 1.8 million on Facebook, 1.8 million on Twitter, and 1.6 million on Instagram. In fact she said in one interview that she was on of the first 110 people to join Instagram when it launched in 2010. Ms. Ezarik also has 7 million YouTube subscribers and 772,000 TikTok followers.
Her online career commenced in 2006 when she was a finalist on a Yahoo! talent show. That landed her a few television roles before she started livestreaming her daily life on Justin.tv in 2007. Ms. Ezarik, who graduated from the Pittsburgh Technical Institute in 2004, filmed her Justin.tv show at the Mall of America in June 2007, covering the debut of the Apple iPhone. A month later, she published a video called “The 300-page iPhone bill” on YouTube and several other platforms The short video went viral and made Ms. Ezarik an internet celebrity.
She mostly reviews video games and tech products today, particularly those made by Apple. Ms. Ezarik has also starred in several web series. She won Streamy Awards (basically the web Oscars) in 2015 and 2016. She’s been nominated for Teen Choice Awards three times since 2010, and also won a Webby Award in 2011.
Ms. Ezarik surpassed one billion total views on YouTube in March 2019. A quick glance at her video comments shows that fans admire her loyalty and longevity in the “Youtuber” space.
One year after the second Moderna shot
Ms. Ezarik is obviously tech smart, except for when it comes to the injectable Moderna operating system for humans. It’s unclear when Ms. Ezarik received her first injection. But she posted a video on both TikTok and Instagram of her second Moderna injection on April 23, 2021. The TikTok caption reads “5g enabled.” Then she segues to a digitally-enhanced shot of herself with a swollen face, mockingly insinuating that the Moderna shot caused the swelling.
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Ms. Ezarik went nearly a full year with no reported adverse effects. Dr. Charles Hoffe posited that most, if not all, vaxx recipients will develop blood clots and suffer eventual heart failure within two years after the injections. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny estimated that vaxx recipients (who receive the real shots) will all die within “42 days to a year.”
Ms. Ezarik posted a video on TikTok and YouTube on April 6. The YouTube caption says that she’d been in the hospital for five days. But there was no further elaboration. The next day, April 7, she posted a 20-tweet thread explaining what happened.
The first tweet says she was diagnosed with Paget-Schroetter syndrome, which is essentially deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the upper body instead of the legs. The condition is also known as venous thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). She also suffered a pulmonary embolism and may require surgery to remove a rib. She ended the tweet with a laughing emoji.
The fifth tweet shows her right arm red and swollen on Friday, April 1. She went to the hospital that day and got an ultrasound.
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It found a blood clot in her right shoulder. Doctors administered blood thinners that night. The next day, April 2, doctors inserted a catheter into the clogged vein to attempt dissolving the clot. The dissolving procedure is called thrombolysis. A potassium IV drip was also inserted in her arm. She slept in the intensive care unit that night.
The next day, Sunday, April 3, the blood clot still hadn’t completely dissolved.
On Monday, April 4, the shoulder clot was clear. But part of it broke off and traveled to her lungs (pulmonary embolism).
She was discharged on Tuesday, April 5. But Ms. Ezarik conceded that she will be on blood thinners for the foreseeable future.
She reiterated that rib removal still may be required. The procedure is called first rib resection (FRR).
A 2015 meta-analysis published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Vascular Surgery concluded that permanent symptom relief from Paget-Schroetter syndrome (PSS) after thrombolysis is “more likely to be achieved in patients who undergo FRR with or without endovenous balloon venoplasty than those whose rib is left intact.”
A 2008 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Thoracic Surgery found that 96% of PSS patients improved after FRR. Researchers called FRR “the ideal management” for Paget-Schroetter syndrome.
In other words, if Ms. Ezarik desires some semblance of normalcy back, she’ll likely undergo FRR. She said via Twitter that she has not received a booster shot as of April 8.
We’ll follow up in due course.
Multi-faceted education
This blogger had never heard of Webby’s, Streamy’s, or iJustine prior to writing this article. But more importantly, this story represents the first instances on The COVID Blog™ of Paget-Schroetter syndrome and first rib resection (FRR) as the best treatment.
Pfizer, of course, knew all along that mRNA injections cause PSS, as it’s listed on the company’s April 30, 2021 adverse reaction report. Ms. Ezarik quickly confirmed that she received Moderna, not Pfizer, when someone pointed out the foregoing fact. She apparently believes Moderna mRNA is safer and different than Pfizer, which of course is false.
Ms. Ezarik built her entire brand on positive energy and smiling. Granted she’s also knowledgeable and well-versed in her craft. But based on the medical literature, the FRR procedure needs to be done sooner rather than later if she wants to attempt putting all this in the rear-view mirror. Ms. Ezarik already must take blood thinners daily, perhaps for the rest of 2022. FRR recovery requires upwards of 12 weeks of physical therapy. No sense in delaying it. All we can do is wish her luck.
Stay vigilant and protect your friends and loved ones.
https://thecovidblog.com/2022/04/11/ijustine-38-year-old-social-media-star-posts-the-5g-trope-on-instagram-after-second-moderna-injection-diagnosed-with-blood-clots-paget-schroetter-syndrome/