It's as far away now as it will ever be

So, Christmas this year was very special in that we got to spend time with all four sets of parents for the first time ever!

It was so nice I must say. And at the risk of speaking too soon I must say that I stayed out of the hospital the entire time. 

I head back to work on Tuesday and I am already having anxiety about it. I just love sleeping in and spending the whole day in my pjamis.

I'm not ready to head back into reality yet. I want to hide out underneath the covers a while longer. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and stayed healthy. 

I love Paris in the Springtime!

So, I am very pleased to say that I am the recipient of the 2012 Karttik Shah Fellowship. Which means I get a paid trip to PARIS for the World Federation of Hemophilia World Congress in 2012, July 8-12. When I first got the news I was excited, then nervous, then scared and now I'm back to being excited again! As you know, I have never left Canada so the thought of travelling all the way to France is a bit scary so I spoke to my Hemophilia Clinic and asked them for advice. It turns out that both of my Hematologists will be there and they will be setting up a Hemophilia Treatment Centre on site. I am also going to the gym three times a week and I am trying to get in the best shape I can before I go to try to be as healthy as I can. I am so excited about travelling to Paris, I have been in French Immersion ever since I was 5 years old and I also took some French Courses in University so I am glad I will get a chance to put all those courses to good use. I really want to go to the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and he Eiffel Tower. I am also looking forward to meeting other Hemophiliacs and Volunteers from around the world. I know other people who have attended the world Congress in the past and they said it is a wonderful experience. I feel so blessed for this opportunity! For more information check out www.hemophilia.ca.

Ryan White

So, today is Ryan White's Birthday and besides the Alexei the Tsarevich he is one of the most famous Hemophiliacs ever. He had a song written about him by Elton John, he drove a sports car given to him by Michael Jackson and has been on countless TV shows and talk shows but Ryan White's life was hard and I don't mean, I have acne and I didn't make the basketball team hard I mean having not one but two terrible life threatening diseases hard. Ever since I heard about Ryan White I felt like we had a lot in Common, his name is Ryan, my name is Ryanne, we both have Hemophilia and we both have moms named Jean! Ryan was born with severe Factor 8 Hemophilia and was later diagnosed with HIV from tainted blood. He died just months before his high school graduation. His story is so sad and heartbreaking but instead of taking it lying down Ryan spoke out about Hemophilia and HIV and made things so much better others. The fact that I was unaffected by Hepatitis or HIV during the tainted blood tragedy is a miracle. and I sometimes feel like I was spared and so I have to do something fantastic or extra special with my life and as of right now I'm not 100% sure what that is but I am a very active volunteer in the Hemophilia Community and although I don't know if I will ever make an impact as huge as Ryan has, I am certainly gonna try. I just pray I don't ever have to go through what he had to because I complain enough now with my life the way it is and I have a great fiance, family and friends who are nothing but supportive and kind to me and I don't know how he did it. But I am so grateful that he did. 

Christmas Party

So, we just had our annual AGM and Hemophilia Society Christmas Party. I have to say it went really well. We raised about 300$ for the Calgary Chapter so that is always good news. We also had fiddlers, great food and a visit from Santa! It was so nice to see how excited the little children got when he walked in. I was really excited too because this year my Dad was Santa which was a lot of fun and its nice to have such great support from my family. 

The party went until about 9 pm and by the time I got home I was so exhausted from laughing and talking to everyone that I went right to bed. Even thought we don't know each other and we all come from different backgrounds I find we all get along really well. It also got to talk to some of my Zoo Girls which was so nice, They are so beautiful and sweet its always nice spending time with them. Since the Christmas Party I am now looking forward to our Volunteer Appreciation event. Spending my whole life without being around other people with bleeding disorders made me feel like an outcast so I now delight in being around other bleeders!