In the back of her mind, Buda resident and Hays CISD Board Trustee Holly Raymond views Aug. 29, 2013 as a distant memory that seemed almost dream-like.

An 18-inch scar on her chest, however, pulls Raymond back to the reality that death, in fact, had once set foot on her doorstep.

Amid the fear, pain and recovery, Raymond views the scar as a daily reminder of how much she has overcome since then.

For Raymond, it’s the knowledge that she survived a bilateral pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot ...