Living with Hemophilia

Hemophilia is a disorder in which the blood in the body does not clot like it is supposed to. Learn what it is like to live with hemophilia from a patient in this disease condition video.

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Hand stand to pirouette
Double tuck
Flank off side
Back toss off
Stick dismount

About this Author

Mark Velasquez is a professional gymnastics coach with Crenshaw Athletic Club in Austin, TX. Crenshaw Athletic Club is home to junior olympic performers as well as the University of Texas gymnastics team.

My name is Randy Hale and I live with hemophilia. When I was 18, I had sinus, nose surgery, nearly bled to death and everybody said, "Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. No big deal." Last year I had minor sinus surgery and 5 days after the event, I started bleeding and nearly bled to death. And they ran the test and they found out I was a hemophiliac, who knew? The worst part of the experience, except for maybe a little bit of the pain, was watching it happen through my wife's eyes. As we were driving to the emergency room in traffic and I was bleeding to death in a bowl, the doctor called and said, "He is a hemophiliac, we have a treatment for it." Okay, so on the way to the hospital while I'm bleeding, we got the call about the diagnosis and it turned out that there was only one drug that could treat that with, which they did treat me with, which stopped the bleeding. From here on out, I have to wear my medi-alert which says what drug to treat me with and any kind of surgery that I have in the future, they just have to treat it with this drug one time beforehand and I'll be okay. The answer is my wife. She's been the number one supporter in all of these. The three things that I think about everyday are-one is, you know, a better vegetable diet, leafy greens, that sort of thing; telling the physician before anything happens that I'm a hemophiliac. Psychologically, taking it easier since this happened. I planted a garden. I never understood gardens before this. Well, I would say don't stress out. I would say try and relax with it because it's part of you and, you know, the stress and such will make it worse.

Living with Hemophilia Video

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