Hey. My brother is special needs of a sort, he has severe haemophilia A (and the complications and conditions that unfortunately followed with the blood products he received). We grew up with hospital visits and ambulance trips a normal part of life. The ambulance drivers would hand me a cardboard 'hat' to vomit in as I get travel sick, as they knew us so well! We made the 18 mile each way trip to Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead 3-4 times a week in an ambulance as my mum and dad dont drive and my brother needs his treatment within 1 hour of injury or spontaneous bleeding. My son Samuel now has the same condition (but so far not the horrid stuff that came with the blood products of the 1980s).
I can remember the day they told us about my brother having been infected with HIV through his blood product. I think that was (for me) the first time I found it hard to be the sister of a special needs child, because we'd grown up with the haemophilia which isnt that life altering, providing proper treatment is available, but now we were being told he had this terrible terrible virus in his body - that was scary.
At the time my brother was 16 years old. He's now 37 and he's going strong. He has an amazing website which inspires many people all over the world.
Its scary having a brother like I've got, but I'm so proud of him. I say 'thats MY brother' lol!
Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:33 pm by Debbie Lou
