My name is Caitlin, and I am deaf and a Chinese adoptee. I don’t know anything about my Chinese family's health history, but after my adoption, I was happy and appeared healthy.

In 2017, I woke up in the morning and realized there was blood coming from my nose on my pillowcase. I went to the bathroom sink to clean up my nosebleed and laid down for a bit. About an hour later, I looked in the mirror and I started to notice tiny red dots all over my chest and legs. I thought it was an odd rash, so I bought some rash cream and put it on my chest to see if it worked or not. Unfortunately, it didn’t work because the rash on my chest never disappeared, and I knew something was not right.

I was diagnosed with ITP in September of 2019, when my platelet count was 4,000. I had an extremely difficult time adjusting to the fatigue, weekly blood draws, and my body’s new limitations. However, as time went on, I began realizing that I couldn’t change the situation, I could only change my mindset. Instead of focusing on everything I couldn’t do, I began focusing on what I could.

During my second year of graduate school, about two years ago, I found myself feeling utterly exhausted. I assumed everyone felt the same, but my fatigue was persistent. Despite sleeping over ten hours each night and taking naps throughout the day, I never felt rested. Concerned, my boyfriend encouraged me to seek medical advice, sensing that something was amiss.

Sofia started bleeding internally about 3 weeks after catching the RSV virus on her 2nd Birthday. Her bleeding continued from spotty to severe for nearly 4 months because she was misdiagnosed with the C-Diff bacteria. All babies up to around 2 years naturally carry C-Diff in their gut. It wasn’t until she became critically ill that doctors discovered she has ITP.

Sometimes I wonder if I would be on the path I am now if it was not for being diagnosed with ITP. I was diagnosed about 5 years ago and had encountered so many highs and lows in such a short period of time. I dreaded going to the hematologist just to be told that my platelets are low and having the agonizing feeling of missing exams in my undergraduate career because I was below 5,000 platelets per microliter of blood.

Meet TTP Warriors Anise and Brianna

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) is a rare blood disorder, where the ADAMTS13 enzyme does not function as it should, leading to small blood clots in the blood vessels, low platelet counts and destruction of red blood cells that affects between 6 to 10 people in every million.

I was diagnosed with ITP at the age of 18 while I was pregnant with my daughter. Throughout my pregnancy I received over 50 platelet transfusions due to my low platelet count, the lowest dropping to 14. After my pregnancy I had a full work up - spleen ct scan, bone marrow biopsy, which all turned out to be within normal limits.

Almost 4 years ago, our lives changed forever. This is our middle son Seth. He was only 3 years old when he was diagnosed with ITP. Something doctors told us is that we’d watch and wait as most kids grow out of it within 6 weeks. We’re still waiting.

Growing up, I was an active kid; always playing with friends and family. Life changed in September 1997…I was 11.

My name is Sei, and I am a 17-year-old junior at Peninsula High School in Los Angeles County. I grew up always playing sports, and right now I play on the school's varsity football team as a cornerback and on the baseball team as an outfielder.

I first learned that I had ITP when I was 6 years old. I remember I would constantly have small scratches that turned into giant bruises, and I spent lots of time learning how to stop a bloody nose. My nose would bleed all the time – many times it would be in the shower, which would make it look much worse than it was.