A 2007 Campaign Story
When the baby boy in this photo was born, the doctor, knowing that the baby's maternal family had a history of hemophilia, tested him for the disease. The baby tested positive and just a day after he was born, suffered from a cranial bleed. He survived, but would need extensive treatments the rest of his life to control future bleeding episodes. Thankfully, the doctor was familiar with the hematology department at the Spitalul Pediatric Clinic and sent the infant to get medical attention there. Through a joint collaboration with pharmaceutical partner Baxter International, AmeriCares has been supplying Romanian hemophilia patients with treatments for their disease for more than ten years.
With the therapies donated by AmeriCares and Baxter, the clinic was able to give the baby life-saving treatment. "Your help was decisive!" Professor Margit Serban, the head of the department said, and added that AmeriCares supplies have saved not only this baby, but countless children's lives in her country.
Hemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly. While women are often carriers of the disease, the illness typically appears in men. The biggest danger caused by hemophilia is internal bleeding. Uncontrolled internal bleeding causes bruises and may lead to hematomas. In severe cases, bleeding occurs with no apparent cause and can occur inside the muscle tissues, the joints and in the worst cases, the organs. While hemophilia is not curable, it can be controlled by proper treatment.
In Romania, poverty persists despite its ascension to the European Union in 2007. Numerous political changes in the years leading to its EU admission have left the public health system fragmented. Hemophilia is a particular health challenge, as there is a high incidence of the disease in this part of the world and limited resources to treat the patients who suffer from it.
Like the baby boy, seventeen-year old Edi (in photo, left) was born with hemophilia. As a result of this blood disorder and his lack of treatment early in life, both of his legs had to be amputated due to excessive bleeding. He has roughly 40 bleeding episodes each month. Edi visits Professor Serban's clinic regularly, where he receives an inhibitor donated by AmeriCares that acts as a preventative for further bleeding. Without that drug, the bleeds he regularly develops will likely cause him to lose his right arm. While Edi's case is extreme, the more than 2,000 hemophilia patients that visit this clinic each year depend on AmeriCares donations to keep their disease under control and live relatively normal lives.
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