Monday, April 18, 2011

Gavin Pearce... is a big man. One of the biggest men I know!

Over the weekend, Kim Pearce called me to share some exciting news that had us both almost in tears!!

Gavin Pearce, 5 years old, has hemophilia. In Gavin's life, he has to have factor every day and sometimes multiple doses daily to keep from bleeding to death. It is not something you get over, but live with forever, and the doses vary with what you do. He does not have the worse case, which is that you can just be sitting and start to bleed, but for a 5 year boy who loves the outdoors and playing basketball and soccer, it is bad enough.

Anyway, Kim, his mom, went to school to learn how to administer the factor. They have several friends who help as well. But on Saturday, Gavin decided he wanted to do it himself. To learn how to do it and just do it. And this 5 year boy took the 500 units of factor from his mom and injected himself, all by himself, without any help!!  What a big big step for Gavin. He now knows he can... save his own life, in a pinch. What an amazing young man. If you have not met him, he is a 'hoot' to be around and will keep you in stitches most of the time. He's an ace with the basketball, so beware if he challenges you to a game...

Anyway, just wanted to share a story about this amazing young man!!

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