I went to the doctor because I had a bruise on my leg that would not go away. The bruise was very dark. At first, I did not think the doctor was going to find anything wrong. I mean, it was just a bruise. However, my mom had it checked out just to make sure. The next thing I knew, the doctor told my mom we had to go to the hospital. My mom wasn’t telling me much about what was wrong, but I could tell she was scared. When we got to the hospital, Dr. Raj told my mom that I had ITP. We were both wondering what that was. We had never heard of it before, but from what the doctor was saying…it was pretty serious.
After that, I had to go to the doctor a lot. I had to get my blood drawn every week. I was so scared of needles and ivs. Now I’m used to it, so it doesn’t hurt as much. I also had nosebleeds that would last up to an hour. That was a very serious part of ITP. When I was in the hospital getting treatments that could last for two days or so…these treatments made me very sick. I had headaches that would last for a week, I threw up a lot, I laid in my bed for several days. But, I still cleaned up every day. With this disease, I couldn’t jump on a trampoline, I couldn’t ride a bike, I couldn’t do anything that could get me injured. I remember a time I was asked to go skating with my friends and I could only do that if I wore a helmet. I felt so embarrassed so I just walked the whole time because of the embarrassment and I didn’t want to be made fun of. I was very sensitive. I also remember this one time where I was on this type of steroid that made my cheeks really big. I was made fun of by someone calling me Theodore. I was so upset but I got through it. The problem was fixed and that person apologized. This illness can cause many things to happen to you. It’s not an easy thing to deal with. It’s hard in life. When one of your friends ask you to do something and you have to say no because your platelets are low. Your get mad and you’re so emotional because you wanted to do that but you couldn’t. I learn to accept this and that this disease is going to be here with in my entire life.
Now I am about to be 15 years old. I’ve had this disease for 4 years. My platelets have been staying up for the past year because of this new medicine called N-plate. This medicine was made available to me because of people like you. The U of L research team and pediatrics team gave me hope by allowing me to be a part of the study. I am able to play in sports again. I play basketball and I actually like this sport. I used to play soccer before ITP, and I was really good at being the goalie. When I was just starting the study I met a new friend at my doctor’s office, her name is Shayna. She’s really nice and she was helpful. We’ve been friends for the past 2 years. She’s been such a great friend. Her mom April is a very great help too & so is her family. In conclusion, even though ITP has drastically changed my life ... I refuse to give up and I’m going to keep fighting. I hope that one day there will be a cure for this disease so no one else will have to go through for what I have been through. Thanks to people like you one day we will find a cure. Thank you.