When Your Child Has A Rare Blood Disorder

No one wants the child they give birth to, to have a rare blood disorder, yet it happens. Children are not supposed to get sick, and they never are supposed to die before the parents,...

No one wants the child they give birth to, to have a rare blood disorder, yet it happens. Children are not supposed to get sick, and they never are supposed to die before the parents, yet they do. When your child has a rare blood disorder many things go through your mind but the thing that sounds the loudest in your ears is…not my child! Why my child? My child has a rare blood disorder, how can I make this better?

Blood disorders are not rare, there are many different kinds of blood disorders, some are almost household words they are so common like anemia. Red blood cells are the very components in our blood that carry oxygen from our lungs to the rest of the body where the oxygen is needed. There are a number of different conditions that are affected by red blood cells including hemolytic anemia, hemochromatosis, hemolytic disease of the newborn, hereditary spherocytosis, iron deficiency anemia, polycythemia, red cell enzyme deficiencies and red cell membrane disorders. All of these names represent diseases in which someone’s parents said, “Not my child”.

Hemolytic anemia is a blood disorder in which the body destroys red blood cells faster than they can be produced. There are two ways this disorder can come about, intrinsic or extrinsic. When the condition is intrinsic, the disorder was caused by something within the red blood cell itself and when it was extrinsic it was caused by something outside the red blood cell such as an infection, antibodies, from medications or other outside causes.

If your child has hemolytic anemia there are treatments such as blood transfusions, corticosteriod medications, and intravenous immune globulin can be given. The doctor may also order immunosuppressive therapy or it may be necessary to remove the spleen.

If your child has hemochromatosis this is when the body builds up too much iron. This is an inherited or an acquired disease. If acquired it may have been caused by blood transfusions, by liver disease or by use of excessive iron supplements.

If your child has hereditary spherocytosis, a rare blood disorder in which red blood cells die prematurely due to a defect within the cell itself.

If your child has iron deficiency anemia the body does not make enough iron, which is an important component of hemoglobin. There are many causes of iron deficiency including diets that are low in iron, body changes that result in low iron like the child going through a growth spurt, if a young girl is pregnant and lactating she can be low in iron, abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract can also result in low blood iron, and also blood loss from injury or surgery, even menstruation can all result in low iron. It is relatively easy to treat iron deficiency anemia, you just give the child iron in the diet or iron by supplement.

If your child has polycythemia, the body produces too many red blood cells and the spleen can swell, there can be bleeding problems, clots, and worse.

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