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I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to explain my symptoms to others. Fatigue is easy to confuse with laziness. Bruises on my body can make people wonder. Brain fog is hard to differentiate from forgetting things because I don’t care. As I battle aplastic…

Have you ever told someone you can’t do (insert activity) because you have a chronic illness? And have you said you weren’t feeling well to get out of whatever you didn’t want to do? And does the guilt then begin to flow through your mind — thoughts of “Am I…

Relationships can sometimes be difficult to create, sustain, and grow within. We manage many relationships in our lives, including those with co-workers, friends, siblings, spouses, and other family members. Living with aplastic anemia and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) meant that I’d entered a new world of navigating relationships…

Even when we’re not aware of it, we all make judgments about other people, whether it pertains to their appearance, financial status, how they communicate, etc. This is known as unconscious bias. The saying “first impressions are lasting impressions” exists because we tend to make quick assumptions upon meeting others.

As someone with two rare blood disorders, aplastic anemia and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, I’ve endured many difficult moments. It was challenging to obtain a correct diagnosis, access treatment, and find a doctor who specialized in my conditions. The rarity of my blood disorders was the catalyst for me to…

Living with aplastic anemia and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) has altered my day-to-day routine. My daily routine today looks much different than when I was newly diagnosed. Those days were filled with doctor appointments and unscheduled trips to the emergency room. Now that I’m in a better place than…

Blood donors are silent heroes who aren’t recognized enough. As someone who’s received many blood transfusions, I couldn’t help but wonder how we got to this point of safely sharing healthy blood in hopes of saving lives. According to the American Red Cross, the history of blood transfusions began in…

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines equity as “the absence of unfair, avoidable, or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically or by other dimensions of inequality.” WHO applies that concept to health equity, noting that it “is achieved when everyone…

Do you know what shared decision-making means in terms of health? It’s not a widely discussed term, but it’s important to understand. With my diagnoses of aplastic anemia and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, learning about this concept helped me feel I was part of my care team. According to…

As we start a new year, I strive to be consistent and set myself up for success. I consider what I could accomplish and which actions I’ll need to take to achieve my goals. But as someone with aplastic anemia and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), I know I’ll…