The Modern
Protagonist
Issue Feature

Magazine Practice

Beyond the Disease

Unveiling how the struggle for identity can become a matter of life or death for young men living with hemophilia.

Three days a week, David wakes up, showers, dresses, and plunges a needle into a vein. He’s been doing this since he was a child. He does this three days a week, for fifteen minutes, because if he doesn’t a fall or scrape can land him in the hospital. This needle is a reality he’s lived with all 22 years of his life and one he will carry with him until his final days. This ritual of the needle is a constant. It is, and always has been, a symbol of who he is. It has defined his life. He has hemophilia…

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