Tyler is 4! It's hard to believe it's been over 4 years since we discovered that Tyler has Hemophilia. He is doing absolutely fantastic - as a family we have truly committed that Hemophilia will not run our lives. As such, Tyler is just as active as can be currently doing swimming, tball and starting gymnastics here soon. He runs, wrestles, jumps and bikes along side his preschool peers. He loves his big boy bike and looks forward to removing those training wheels!

For those unfamiliar with our story, Tyler was born in February of 2020. During our stay in maternity and in the days immediately after arriving home, we noticed that Tylers standard newborn procedures were not healing, but continuing to bleed and bruise. After working with our pediatrician and identifying some additional tests available we started our journey to our Hemophilia diagnosis. With impending lock downs in site due to covid, we trekked to Akron Children's Hospital to learn of the test results. Tyler has 0% ( less than 1%) factor8 clotting protein, which makes him a severe A Hemophiliac. What does that mean exactly? Tyler does not have the necessary proteins for his body to form a clot on its own. Tyler receives a prophilactic injection once per week that works to bind other proteins in his blood to allow clots to form. We still keep factor product on hand should he experience trauma or spontaneous bleeding. 

Many of you know, my way of coping is to become involved. So as soon as we were able, I jumped in head-first to get involved with Greater Ohio Bleeding Disorders Foundation (formerly the Northern Ohio Hemophilia Foundation). The bleeding disorders families and staff members we encountered in those early days were truly a lifeline in getting through the initial shock of the diagnosis. As such, 4 years later we do all we can to support and stay involved with the organization. We attend educational events, family activities and fundraisers. I sit on the board of directors and for the past several years I have participated in advocacy efforts at the State and Federal levels around legislation impacting patients with chronic conditions and high-cost medications. 

I addition to the involvement mentioned above, we participate yearly in this Unite for Bleeding Disorder fundraising effort. My personal goal is to raise as much as possible for this worthy cause. I humbly ask you for your support by donating to Team Tyler for our 2024 campaign! Every dollar stays within our community and supports critical initiatives such as funding research to find better treatments, educating medical providers on the latest innovations and care, ensuring families have access to quality healthcare and providing access to the best educational resources available.

Thank you for reading this far! Thank you for supporting our campaign year after year!

Brittany, Adam, Tyler & Sloane