Every girl get to the day she has her first period, and it’s quite a normal thing of course, but for Chloe Christos, a Perth, Australia girl, things were very different when she just kept bleeding…
Chloe like most other girls looked forward to high school so much, the new things she would be doing, the big adventure that waited for her, and all the happy moments ahead!
But soon enough she would soon have to find out something would change her life forever, in the most unexpected way!
The tipping point for Chloe was after she had her first period. After this first time, the bleeding just carried on, longer than a week, longer than a month!
It turned into five years, wow, poor Chloe was losing about a pint every four days…
Those five years were so hard, Chloe couldn’t do much of anything at all, she regularly fainted, her blood pressure was constantly low and she wasn’t allowed to go out in the car.
Chole said that the most frustrating part of the whole thing was that she loved to be physically active and that she couldn’t be anymore.
Periods were a sort of a taboo subject and Chloe knew it’s typically a personal thing, it was a little embarrasing.
She said:
“I knew it wasn’t quite right, but I was also embarrassed to talk about it. I felt very different and pretty alone.”
Five years of suffering was what it took before Chloe found the courage to look for help for her problem.
Chloe met frustration again as many doctors dismissed her problem as womens troubles:
The doctors wouldn’t take her seriously or treat her and ofter she was completely refused treatment at all even in the ER. As a female she felt she wasn’t being taken seriously at all.
Then, after some time she did manage to find a doctor who was gong to take her issue serioiusly and was going to diagnose her condition.
Chloe’s blood has low levels of a protein associated with hemophilia, just like Von Willebrand’s disease.
Combined, these indicated bleeding disorders, the kind that make it really difficult for blood to clot!
Chloe continued to suffer as the doctors continued to look for the solution to help her with her condition, they really struggled to do anyhting at all to help her.
She was started on a synthetc drug that was made to treat the low protien levels of the protein factor VIII in her body. The drug had really bad side effects but she carried on with it for seven years.
The success of it was incinsistent, and she had to take it all the time, she was desperately searching for better alternatives.
One doctor told her that the only option was to remove her uterus!
In the end she turned away from doctors and sought help in the Hemophilia Center in Adelaide, Australia. The Hemophilia Center had a little breakthrough and could give her an experimental synthetic drug, which had only previously been given to male patients.
Christos said:
“It’s the difference between being hospitalized for two weeks of the month and taking two paracetamol and having a heat pack for one day,”
Chloe said that, with the once a month injection, her periods are now normal, lasting just four to five days!
Chloe has dedicated her life to fighting her abttle and advocating for equal rights for other women with similar issues to her own.
She strives to help as many others as she can to recieve a proper diagnosis and traeatment that will work for them too.
This story could potentialls spread the word For Chloe and we hope she can reach people far and wide, raise awarenes, and help many others like her. Please SHARE with your family and friends.