I never saw myself as an athlete. In middle school, I played volleyball, sat on the bench for most of basketball season, and played softball in the summer. As an adult, I tried Curves, Jazzercise, some yoga, and went to the gym. Then, in 2016, I made a choice that…
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I thrive as the wife of someone with severe hemophilia B. That does not mean hemophilia has made our marriage easy. It has brought fear, limitations, and responsibilities into our lives. It has also deepened the trust and communication between my husband and me. Over time, I have…
There’s a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from being asked — mid-appointment or on a call with my specialty pharmacy — to recall something my body has already tried to forget. When was your last bleed? What did you infuse, and how much? I used to answer these questions…
Training for a marathon takes real commitment and determination. Athletes spend weeks or even months getting ready, following a schedule of running and rest days. Crossing the finish line and achieving their goal is incredibly rewarding, as the challenge was their choice. Raising two sons with severe hemophilia A…
Last in a series. Read part one. Last week, I asked my oldest son, Julian, what he wished people outside the bleeding disorders community understood about hemophilia. He wished they would not treat him as though he lived in a protective bubble. He wanted independence and trust…
I’ve been thinking lately about how resilience is discussed in the Philippines. After major storms, familiar images circulate online: weddings continuing despite floodwater inside churches, people joking or swimming through flooded streets, and families smiling while cleaning mud from their homes. There is something admirable about finding humor when…
Hurricane Ian directly hit my condo in 2022. My mother and I evacuated to Orlando, Florida, and couldn’t return for weeks. It was long enough that “recovery” became its own kind of routine — a slow, stubborn process that I eventually made my way through. I know how to do…
First in a series. This morning, my oldest son, Julian, 30, called me from Philadelphia, where he is living for two months before packing up his bags and moving again. He is a professional entertainer hoping to sing on Broadway one day. Currently, he’s on his first national tour for…
This season, we’ve seen terrible natural disasters. Tropical storms, wildfires, mudslides, earthquakes, and flash floods have destroyed communities worldwide. Watching news reports from these places is heartbreaking. We may not know how to respond to seeing people covered in mud searching for loved ones or coming home to find only…
Lately, I have been trying to spend as little as I reasonably can. I decided to enter a season of aggressively paying down debt. Even writing that makes me slightly uneasy. I have a personal concern about announcing goals: Sometimes saying what I plan to do gives me enough…
