Information about hemophilia
DORCAS ANNETTE WALKER is a second generation woman with the genetic disease of hemophilia. Her father had severe hemophilia and died of AIDS due to contaminated clotting factor. Dorcas is the only daughter (of two) to be a hemophilia carrier. Her daughter, Dawn, also has mild hemophilia as well as being a hemophilia carrier. This is very rare as hemophilia usually passes from the male with hemophilia, down through his daughter as a hemophilia carrier, and then to her son. Dorcas' son, Dwight, has severe hemophilia inherited from his grandfather.
Hemophilia is a rare genetic bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot normally. Persons with hemophilia are missing or have a low level of a protein needed for normal blood clotting. About 18,000 people in the United States have hemophilia. Hemophilia usually occurs only in males (with rare exceptions). A person with severe hemophilia means that they have less than one percent clotting factor in their system.
Dwight was laid up for a couple of weeks due to a thigh bleed. The hip is tricky as often by the time you realize that you have a bleed- due to the hip being a larger joint and taking longer for pain to appear- it is usually pretty bad. Complete bed rest and keeping the factor level up is basically all that one can do to get things back under control. The first couple of days Dwight only got up to use the bathroom. I kept running back and forth to his bedroom with something to drink or eat every couple of hours. By the end of the week Dwight was getting quite bored having to lie around, although after the first week he could get up to get something to eat or drink. Even Leo’s presence wasn’t enough of a distraction as he bounced in and out of the bedroom. It was with a big sense of relief when Dwight’s thigh bleed was finally under control and there wasn’t any pain when he put his weight on it.
Only a couple of weeks later Leo, Dwight’s faithful companion, was killed. It was a big adjustment for Dwight not to see an energetic ball of fur racing around in circles in excitement whenever he came home or waking up with Leo curled up beside him every morning. Whenever Dwight traveled, Leo rode in the front truck seat with bright inquisitive eyes checking out the new sights while his nose stayed busy sniffing the air. All Dwight had to do was speak and Leo was instant attention. He was quick to learn tricks and would sit or lie down on command, shake a paw, or beg for food. Hyperactive he loved to chase balls or tug on a rope- several of which he shredded. Leo had become popular after being featured on my website when his picture won third place in the Knoxville News Sentinel last spring.
In May I had Dwight prepare his favorite pie, Quick Lemon Pie, for my column. I was only able to use one picture out of the several that I took. You can read about the entire episode on my blog. Meanwhile like they say a picture is worth a thousands words. Recently a couple of Dwight’s friends, Eric and Aaron Hines from Indiana came down to visit over the Labor Day weekend. While here I had these farm boys and Dwight do up some pizzas that I plan to feature in my cooking column. It was quite an interesting experience watching these guys in action. I don’t know if my dear kitchen will ever be the same again- ha!
You can read about the entire episode on my Creative Mountain Cookin blog at: http://dorcasannttewalker.blogspot.com
Dorcas is currently working on a book about raising two children of opposite genders with hemophilia. Not only did Dawn and Dwight keep her on her toes by having some bleeding episodes at the same time, but she also coped with the frustrations of having a daughter who was a mild bleeder (besides being a hemophilia carrier) that caused internal bleeds like her son.