Jared Formalejo, who has hemophilia B, and his wife, Alliah, live in the Philippines. They share their journey of love and navigating hemophilia and seizures together.

Alliah: Jared had a seizure on our first date. Jared has a seizure disorder, aside from hemophilia.

Jared: It was caused by a brain injury during my fifth grade. So I have complex partial seizures.

Alliah: So that type of seizure isn’t the common type of seizure that you know of, the shaky kind of seizure. It’s more he’s in a dreamlike state during and after his seizure. So on that day, it was our first date, and he somehow managed to have a seizure.

Jared: And imagine this: We were in the middle of a big, open, well, field, and then, you know, stars under us and, you know.

Alliah: It’s very romantic. And somehow that’s how our first kiss happened.

Jared: Our first kiss happened, and I was not conscious.

Alliah: Semi-conscious, right?

Jared: Semi-conscious, yeah.

Alliah: Semi-conscious.

Jared: Yeah, I was dreaming that time, but apparently it happened. So I guess it was a dream come true.

Alliah: Somehow he remembered. So thankful for that. And there were a second and third date, so all’s well that ends well.

Jared: Turned out well. Something that defined our marriage — a first-date seizure and a first-date-seizure first kiss. So.