At our 10th Annual Statewide

meeting we honored Jeff Rhodes, Director of Restaurant Operations for Macayo's Restaurants, as our 2015 Volunteer of the Year.  Jeff and Macayo's first got involved by volunteering at our annual Salsa Challenge over 10 years ago. Upon accepting the award of Volunteer of the Year, Jeff shared a story about the moment he became committed to the AHA. During his first Salsa Challenge, a young Camp HONOR boy with hemophilia walked up to Jeff and thanked him for all of his support to our cause. 

 

Jeff's creative ideas are endless, many of which we have incorporated into our events.  From going out of his way to help us secure sponsors and donors, to the event layout, to music and bartenders; Jeff will jump in and help wherever and whenever he can.  It is his huge heart, commitment and passion that has helped us raise significant funds and allowed us to provide necessary funding for our programs and services.

 

Jeff is one of the most genuine people who cares deeply about our cause.  We are forever grateful for Jeff's dedication and support to the AHA and for all that Macayo's has done for us over the years! 

 

Please save the date for our 2016 Salsa Challenge: March 5th & 6th 2016 at Steele Indian School Park!

 

Thanks to Fry's for donating water and fruit!  Also thanks to Macayo's for serving some delicious nachos and Kind Bars for donating bars to help fuel our walkers!

 

Any and all adults are to schedule an appointment!  At the AZ Bleeding Disorders Health and Wellness Center, w e offer an integrated approach to treat the whole person and act as the conduit for all of your medical care needs. We partner with other specialists to provide seamless, coordinated care.

A group of sisters in our community, Soyla Valencia, Carmen Cera, and Anjelica Cabrera, raised money for the Arizona Hemophilia Walk by throwing a bake sale!  We thank them for their amazing efforts in helping us in reaching  our fundraising goal!

  

We have two beautiful children, Rey (4) and Natalie (2).  Rey was diagnosed with severe hemophilia when he was only five months old.  We had no idea he had this disorder.  It all started one morning when he woke up and wasn't his usual self.  He was very lethargic, vomiting, and had a fever, all the symptoms of the common cold, we thought.  Since he wasn't feeling any better, we decided to take him to the hospital.  Upon arriving, he started seizing.  They immediately ran all kinds of tests, and within minutes, the cat scan results came back wtih horrible news.  Rey had a brain hemorrhage. After further tests were done, it was concluded that Rey has hemophilia. At that point, doctors were giving us the worst case scenario, Rey had a 50/50 chance of surviving if surgery was needed, because his factor levels were not controlled at that time.

This was probably the hardest situation we had ever encountered.  We were devastated.  After being in the hospital for about a month, Google had become our best friend.  We had so many questions and felt we needed to find all the answers.  Our life had completely changed.  We felt we had to learn and know everything to get our son to a better place.  We couldn't help but feel alone, even if we had the love and support of our friends and family.  It wasn't that we weren't grateful, we felt alone because as much as they tried to sympathize with our situation, they would never know exactly what we were going through because they weren't also going through it. We also felt we had to be strong and not show weakness to everyone, so they knew we could handle the situation and take care of our son.  

Hemophilia affected all of our lives that day in so many ways, including

 introducing us to the Arizona Hemophilia Association.  We are so grateful with the AHA that has helped us to deal with this disorder and all of the ups and downs that come with it.  Through the AHA we have had the opportunity to be around families that are fighting the same battle we are.  Being involved brings this warm feeling in our hearts that reminds us we are not alone in this journey.  We are very blessed to be a part of the AHA and are grateful for everything they have done for our family!

 

Genentech receives breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA for ACE910 subcutaneous therapy for hemophilia A.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted "breakthrough therapy designation" status to Genentech's investigational therapy ACE910, for the prophylactic treatment of individuals with hemophilia A who are 12 or older.

Read more.