Fortville mom and daughter elevating consciousness of bleeding problems – WISH-TV | Indianapolis Information | Indiana Climate

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One Fortville household is working to boost consciousness of uncommon bleeding problems throughout Bleeding Issues Consciousness Month with the hope of getting consideration from lawmakers.

Kimber Blackwell and her daughter, 14-year-old Kate Blackwell, have Von Willebrand disease. It’s a bleeding dysfunction the place individuals are lacking or low within the clotting protein von Willebrand issue, or the protein doesn’t work because it ought to.

Von Willebrand illness is the commonest blood dysfunction within the U.S. Many of the 3.2 million Individuals who’ve it are born with it after having inherited it from one or each mother and father, says the CDC.

However others, like Kimber Blackwell, don’t see the warnings indicators — together with frequent nosebleeds, irregular or simple bruising, and extreme bleeding of the gums — till later in life.

Blackwell is a doctor’s assistant on the Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center in Indianapolis. She says she labored with sufferers with uncommon bleeding problems for years earlier than she realized her signs matched Von Willebrand illness.

Blackwell says her daughter, Kate, was recognized when she was in kindergarten after a volleyball to the face and a nosebleed that wouldn’t cease.

To attempt to draw the eye of lawmakers to Von Willebrand illness and different bleeding problems, the mother-daughter duo lately took half in an occasion known as Washington Days, hosted by the Nationwide Hemophilia Basis.

Throughout Washington Days, the Blackwells and different Individuals with inherited blood problems met nearly with lawmakers to attempt to improve funding for bleeding dysfunction analysis and enhance entry to care.

“I feel it’s simply essential to share your story, particularly when you will have some medical situation that isn’t frequent,” Kimber Blackwell stated. “It actually simply offers a face and a private story and a private contact to lawmakers, to have the ability to see how having a bleeding dysfunction impacts on a regular basis life.”

The Indiana Hemophilia and Thrombosis Middle says greater than 60,000 folks in Indiana live with a uncommon bleeding dysfunction, comparable to Von Willebrand illness or hemophilia, and the bulk are unaware. Study extra and discover out the signs on the IHTC website.