Hemophilia Unit Organizing Here
Richmond Times Dispatch | Saturday, January 25, 1975, page B-3 | Go here to see article.
The inaugural meeting of a voluntary, nonprofit health organization, the United Virginia Hemophilia Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation, will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Crippled Children’s Hospital.
There are an estimated 200 hemophiliacs throughout Virginia, but the new organization knows of only 90, according to Charles R. Walter of Richmond, acting secretary of the chapter. Most of those are from the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Richmond areas.
Hemophilia is an inherited blood disorder, mostly affecting males, in which there is a deficiency of specific factors that cause the blood to clot. As a result, victims of hemophilia can suffer episodes of uncontrolled bleeding, or hemorrhaging.
Myth Countered
“Contrary to popular belief,” according to one brochure produced by the national foundation, “the hemophiliac will not bleed to death if he cuts his finger. But a bump or blow can trigger painful bleeding episodes into the hemophiliac’s vital organs, muscles and joints; after repeated episodes, the hemophiliac is frequently, and literally, crippled by his own blood.”
The foundation also noted that medical scientists have been able to isolate and concentrate a clotting factor from the blood plasma of healthy donors. Continuing infusions of the clotting factor enable most hemophiliacs to live relatively normal and self-sufficient lives.
But such infusions are expensive and are given generally only in emergencies, according to the foundation. The foundation is concerned with helping hemophiliacs and their families, with supporting research and with various aspects of ensuring supplies of blood and blood products for hemophiliacs.
Bylaws are to be approved, and officers are to be elected. The meeting is open to hemophiliacs, parents of hemophiliac children and others interested in the problem, he said.
