Hello again, everyone! The third poem in this series is one regarding pain. After covering the basics of hemophilia and inhibitors, I thought it would be best to move into a more specific aspect of hemophilia. Unfortunately, the first thing that came to my mind was pain. This is a particularly difficult topic to tackle, especially when it’s being addressed towards young patients. Hemophilia can cause a lot of pain, and it’s hard to talk about that with a child. The fact is hemophiliacs vary greatly in their levels of pain, and that extreme variation created an issue in the writing of this poem. I want it to be an honest reflection of the pain associated with hemophilia, but that’s difficult to put into just one poem.I personally suffered from chronic pain through my teenage years, and continue to battle with it today. However, I hope that isn’t the case for most hemophilia patients, and I wanted this poem to be in the middle of those who suffer chronically from pain and those who only deal with it occasionally. This poem is meant to illustrate what life is like with everyday bleed pain for a young, healthy hemophilia patient. I thought that an interesting way to examine bleed pain would be to contrast it with other forms of pain that people experience.
In the poem, we see two friends on the same soccer team. The hemophilia patient has a knee bleed, while the other player has simply fallen and scraped her knee. When I was younger, I often thought about the difference between my bleed pain and other pain, and I found myself having conversations like the one in this poem. I want children who read this to see that, while they may have to sit out a little longer than their friends, and while they do have to treat their pains a little differently, it’s still something that they’ll be able to get through with treatment. I also think it’s important for kids to remember that their pain is relatable. Other kids may not have bleeds, but they do have pain. Everyone has pain. And that makes our seemingly isolated experience, something to which everyone can relate.
I hope this poem shows kids that they can still play sports, or cheer on their team, and that their pain will go away, even if it takes a little longer. Most importantly, though, I hope it shows them just how universal pain is, the fact that they’re understood and not alone.
