Good morning everyone. My name is Christina. I am in otherwise healthy 26 year old who was diagnosed with ITP in December, 2014. I am currently a 3rd year medical student at Indiana University School of Medicine. It was during my internship two and a half years ago, when I was working as a research assistant at the University of Illinois, that I had my first exposure to hematology through personal experience. While working in the research lab in December, 2014 I had recurrent nosebleeds that lasted over 4 hours. I was admitted to Rush University Chicago hospital with the hemoglobin of 6 and 10,000 platelets. I received a platelet transfusion the same day, which further dropped my platelet counts to 6,000. The hematologist later concluded that the platelet transfusion stimulated my immune system even more, which caused a further decrease in my platelets.

John's story was recorded during ITP Conference 2017 in Phoenix, AZ. He shares his advice about the importance of becoming an ITP Warrior, taking good care of yourself, and taking advantage of the wealth of information and resources that the ITP community has to offer.

An ITP diagnosis inspires a young, competitive gymnast to turn a setback into significance

Any athlete will attest to the main reasons to engage in competition – the desire to win, the opportunity to improve personal performance, and the chance to step up individual efforts for a shot at higher levels of achievement. What happens then, when one’s drive to compete is derailed by the diagnosis of immune thrombocytopenia? For eleven-year-old Katie, of Georgia, it meant employing those components and engaging her grit to beat ITP.

You never know with ITP. I tell our daughter, Mia (17, dx at age 12) that ITP teaches us to live with ambiguity, to weigh the pros and cons and make the best choice we can when it's not always clear what is the best path forward.

Over the past 5+ years, Mia's tried just about every drug there is for ITP (ivig, anti-d, rituxan (4 rounds on 3 occasions), NPlate, promacta and, of course, the dreaded prednisone along the way.) Eventually, all the drugs have stopped working and, when they do, Mia's numbers always fall below 10. We are blessed that she's not a bleeder. Our doctors have never hospitalized her for low platelets (except to treat) so, even when she's in single digits, she does school and life, except for sports and any obvious risks. That said, when her platelets are this low, she's beyond exhausted. She can barely haul herself through her days, sleeps a lot and is understandably sad. We have a 504 in place at school for these times.

Over the years, I have developed a very sarcastic shell that I use to for protection. Most of the time, I like to believe that kindness is my superpower, not my weakness. However, Sarcasm is my safety net. I have been diagnosed with ITP (Idiopathic Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura), Chronic Migraines, Depression, & Anxiety. These do not by any means make me unique or special. I have learned over the years that there will always be someone who can top my list any given day of the week with a blink of an eye. These are however, invisible and incurable diseases that I will carry with me like badges sewn inside my jack lapel, that I can flash any time I need gain entry into the club. People have often said to me when the truth rises to surface, “You don’t look sick.” In the beginning, I would smile and say thanks. Now, I just smile and say with a slight laugh, “Why would I want to look sick?”

After discovering unexplained bruises on his body, I took our baby boy went to the pediatrician on Tuesday, August 23, 2016. She said he had ITP and sent us to the ER at our local hospital for blood-work. He had only 8,000 platelets. Then, we were transferred via ambulance and admitted into Yale New Haven Children's Hospital. Later than night, he was down to 1,000 platelets and was given his 1st IVIG infusion.

Thirteen years ago I was diagnosed with a blood platelet disorder called ITP -- idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. I know, right? What? It means that my body is at war with itself. My immune system attacks itself, perfectly good platelets, and destroys them.

I'm a Snoopy fan and found a tee-shirt at the time with the quote, "It's a brand new day- the sun is shining- and I'm alive! I still have that tee-shirt. It was a tough battle but I survived. I won. Almost. Not every battle is meant to be overcome. Sometimes, your enemy becomes your companion and you have to learn to deal. The two of you will be hanging out together for awhile.

I am  a 17-year-old girl living with ITP.  I was diagnosed with this when I was in sixth grade.  I started to notice bruises all over my legs, but at the time I was taking Tae Kwon Do, so I linked it to that.  I finally ended up going to the doctor when my legs were covered in petechiae.  My pediatrician sent me to a hematologist and they had diagnosed me with ITP a few weeks later.

I didn't really understand what the disease was all about back then, all I knew was that I was upset about quitting the sports I had been playing.

I just wanted to share my story to give hope to others struggling with this awful disorder... especially the parents who have young children struggling. I was diagnosed around my 10 th birthday following many tests and some serious worry that I had leukaemia. My levels were extremely low, under 10, and I was always covered in bruises. This was 25 years ago and there weren't outlets like this to search for support, so my parents did the best they could with the information they got from our small town doctor.

My dad, age 94, has five years of blood tests showing a steady decline in his blood platelets from a high of 87,000 to a low of 37,000. He was scheduled for a heart scope procedure in late June of 2014, with hopes of having a stent put in, clearing the way for a TVAR "stent/valve" put in to replace the failing valve in his heart. When he arrived for the procedure, they took a blood test and told him they could not proceed because of his low blood platelet count. They basically told him to go home and prepare to die. No suggestions, no help, no nothing...