Thank you for helping us reach our fundraising goal! Together we can make a difference in the lives of those living with bleeding disorders like Amelie. Our team is committed to raising money to support those affected in our community and raising awareness of the urgency to find treatments and a cure. Please consider joining our team Amelie's GT Striders for the SoCal Unite For Bleeding Disorders Walk or choose a team member from the list and donate to our cause. This Foundation means a lot to our family as it has helped us connect with other people who share similar bleeding experiences. We have gained tremendous knowledge, support, and guidance through this community, and we want to do our part and give back as much as we are able. No donation is too small and is greatly appreciated. 

Amelie was born on November 13, 2012 in Baldwin Park. She was a beautiful baby, seldom sleeping and always screaming. She was born with a few bruises across her chest, which the doctors brushed off as possible birth marks. In December of that same year, Amelie had a subconjunctival hemorrhage, noted by broken blood vessels in the eye. Again, this curious symptom was considered to be of no concern at the time. In February of 2013, when Amelie was just three months old, we went to a family birthday party. Everyone was so excited to meet little, chubby Amelie and she was passed from one person to the next receiving all the love and affection she deserved. However, when it was time to change Amelie we saw a large bruise behind her leg that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. We rushed Amelie to Urgent Care at Kaiser in Baldwin Park and were transferred down to the Emergency Room shortly after for observation and laboratory testing. Although Amelie’s blood work came back negative for a number of agonizing scenarios, we were referred to a hematology to determine the cause of the spontaneous bruising. Amelie was initially diagnosed with a Vitamin K deficiency, however supplementing her diet was met with increasing bruising throughout her body. A second opinion in the clinic pointed us down a path of a probable platelet abnormality. Amelie's first year of life kept us on our toes. The more she gained in body mechanics, the more tendency she had towards bruising. Each new tooth was accompanied by bloodied pajamas and sheets. We modified our house to make it as safe as possible. Baby gates and tables were lined with cut up pool noodles to prevent injuries. We also decided to move Amelie out of her crib and into a Pack and Play when she learned to roll over. This was done because she tended to bang her head into the rails, and we wanted to make sure she never fell from that height. Amelie started walking on December 7, 2013, an amazing milestone that came with a whole new host of anxieties for her parents. Amelie was officially diagnosed with Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia on January 17, 2014. 

Over the past year, Amelie has continued to grow through her experiences and hardships. Weeks after the last Unite Walk, she invited friends and family over to our home to celebrate her 10th birthday, themed to her favorite Netflix show Stranger Things. The holidays were a whirlwind of activity, with Amelie even finding herself in the hospital just days before Christmas with a nosebleed. But we broke out of Children’s Hospital in Orange County on December 23^rd and Amelie had an amazing Winter Break.

In January Amelie was accepted into her school’s honor choir Music Express. This provided her the opportunity to sing with upperclassmen throughout the district, perform in an amazing Spring concert themed to The Muppets and Sesame Street, and even perform at Knott’s Berry Farm in the Wagon Camp Theatre. Amelie dealt with two hospitalizations the bookended her Spring Break, although they were timed so that she got to spend a week out of school with her cousin from Oakland. Amelie faced one final hospitalization for yet another nosebleed in the final weeks of the school year. This time, it came right in the middle of her campaign for Student Council President. In what could have easily grounded her campaign, Amelie pushed through the ordeal, making campaign posters and finetuning her speech to deliver to her school. Not surprisingly, Amelie pulled through and was chosen by her peers to lead the Student Council for her 5^th grade year, a fitting end to the 2022-2023 school year.

Heading into summer, we had wide eyes for an eventful summer. We booked a family vacation with the entire Ordaz clan in San Diego, a two-day Disneyland trip to celebrate Amelie’s cousin Paloma’s birthday, and a 5-day acting and singing workshop at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles with Society Performing Artists. We had also developed a plan with her care team to finally send Amelie to Camp Painted Turtle. All were unfortunately missed. Days into summer vacation, Amelie faced a troublesome nosebleed the moment we exited the freeway in San Diego. We headed straight to Rady’s Children’s Hospital, without Amelie ever even stepping foot into the vacation home we booked. Amelie experienced her first air transport, flying from San Diego to Orange County, on a medical transport plane while receiving a blood transfusion. And this kicked off a summer where we simply could not get out of the hospital for any meaningful stretch. In fact, 28 days of summer vacation were spent inside the hospital. By the time she was ready to head back to school, her veins had completely given up from the frequent IV pokes and laboratory draws. She had resorted to IVs placed in her ankles and thighs before the decision was made to have a port placed in her right upper chest.

Amelie received her port on August 17^th, 2023, which she calls Ironheart or Portia, depending on her mood. The port is a catheter that runs into a major vein near her heart and is tunneled into an access port embedded in her chest. This port allows her to have easier access for medications and laboratory draws for the foreseeable future. It must be accessed with a needle monthly to remain patent but is otherwise protected underneath her skin. With most medical procedures, there are inherent risks with the port, one of which is an increased infection risk from accessing the line. And wanting to put her port through its paces, Amelie developed a significant fever and chills the day after the line was accessed for the first time. This required another hospital stay for observation and pain management, but thankfully was rather uneventful.

And that about catches you up with Amelie and the past year. Some other notable events/moments include Amelie finally experiencing live theatre, having seen Annie, Six, and Beetlejuice the Musical. She had her ears pierced despite the hesitation of her Hematology team (who crafted a perfect treatment plan for the procedure). Amelie fell hard into Loungefly, and her obsession is slowly taking over her room. Tiny backpacks everywhere. She finished out the 2022-2023 school year with straight A’s and she continued to grow and make us so incredibly proud.  

The Hemophilia Foundation of Southern California has absolutely saved our family. Through advocacy and community building, Amelie has gained the strength necessary to live a life not simply defined by a bleeding disorder. 

We hope you are able to join us for the Unite for Bleeding Disorders Walk.

Amelie, Elena and Brian Iavicoli