lives. It started
closing
lives. It started for Frank as soon as he was born. For the first ten years of his life, he either went to a hospital to get his injections, or his mother did it for him at home. When Frank was old enough to learn how to safely stick a needle into his veins, he started injecting himself, as he will do for the rest of his life.
“I had some self-esteem problems when I was young because of my hemophilia, and I really wanted to look and feel as good as I could,” Frank admitted. “To me it was a manageable disease, and I didn’t have much trouble learning to cope with it. I guess you could say it is somewhat like diabetes, but of course the treatment is much more invasive.”
If a hemophiliac doesn’t get his factor VIII injection on time, symptoms can appear in addition to the danger of bleeding to death. Hemoraging can occur in joints, such as an ankle or a knee, and cause pain.
“If you are in good health and you follow your injection schedule, you should be okay. But factor VIII doesn’t last; it gets flushed out of the system in about three days. So if you don’t happen to be near your refrigerator, or miss your injection schedule for some reason, you can suffer tremendous pain. Some part of you could swell, or you could get a cut and not stop bleeding. You have to be in constant vigilance and stay close to your factor source.”
Virtually none of Frank’s classmates or playmates or friends ever knew Frank was a hemophiliac. There was no reason to tell them. Frank would simply take his injections privately twice a week and then go about a normal life. But inside, it affected Frank emotionally.
“In terms of relating to other people, it’s always there, hidden beneath the surface. It’s frustrating. As a kid, I always wished that they would develop something better than the treatment I was taking so that every three