I would like to introduce myself as Dr. Srinivas from Hyderabad (India) & share my journey of life with Hemophilia. It's really a big question, why in this great and beautiful world God has given such a big “PROBLEM” like HEMOPHILIA” & that also to me at the age of one & half month!

With severe hematoma due to Hemophilia, I got my first treatment at NILOFER Govt. Children's Hospital & you may find it surprising that now I am serving as junior Doctor in the same hospital. It's a miracle that in Hyderabad chapter of Hemophilia Federation with no support and proper infrastructure I have been able to survive and come out successfully. The journey to become doctor was not at all easy and one can guess how difficult it is in India to achieve this feat.
I belong to a middle class family. My father is a police constable and mother a primary school teacher. I have an elder sister and a younger brother. My parent's monthly income was just enough for meeting our daily needs.  In my childhood days when I used to get hurt while playing, there wasn't enough money with my parents to buy Factor VIII and my father used to give his own blood, as we both have same blood group. This happened several times.

By birth I was diagnosed with <1% of factor VIII level (a severe hemophiliac, where more than 20 times being infused with wet products). The availability of Factor VIII assisted me to reduce pain with frequent infusions. It really takes lots of courage and guts to inject in the veins with own hands when the near & dear ones are not around.

It is not common to have knee, elbow & shoulder joint frequent bleeds. Frequent knee heamorthroses made my right knee cripple at the age of 10 yrs, adding more pain and disability and further making my life more uneasy. On an average yearly 150 to 170 times my joints bleed, making the exams times more tense and nervous. The tension of doing well in exams added more mental strain & made me to bleed more frequently.

From my childhood, I wanted to become a professional doctor and study more about hemophilia. This urged me to become a doctor overcoming all challenges. My will power and the support of my family, schoolmates and friends helped me confronting all hurdles. In my school days, frequently I used to suffer from knee bleeds making me unable to complete the studies. During that time my friends & teachers helped me a lot.

In the junior college education which is a door step to join medicine,  it became more severe and I had to cope-up with serious studies to achieve medical seat bearing the  pain, sleepless nights, over stress, pressure from the tutors etc. All these memories makes me feel great/proud for having crossed the challenging past. I got admission in Osmania medical college and the days used to be very hectic with lots of pressures to clear the annual exams.

The tension for examination & studies made me to bleed more frequently & I use dot writhe in pain. Silently I suffered but never revealed my agony to my professors or friends. Getting favours or sympathy makes me uneasy and irritating. I never wanted to get any kind of sympathy from any one. A common person suffering small injuries, fevers and pains can get relief with common medications, but I cannot take a pain killer easily. I have to depend on only “CROCIN” tablet which relieves temporarily.

The life is a curse for some people. Inspite of all hurdles but I have done it. Now I am a doctor and confident of treating patients with hemophilia in Hyderabad.