By Richard Vogel
It was wonderful seeing so many old friends—blood brothers and sisters with their families at HFA’s 2022 Symposium. The meeting was aptly named A Texas-Sized Family Reunion. Running into old friends at the airport was the start of the reunion!
Particularly enjoyable was Zander Masser presenting the keynote address, Unburying My Father. He recounts the story of his father, Randy, a professional photographer who had severe hemophilia B. When Zander was 14 years-old, his dad passed away from AIDS-related illnesses. As an adult, Zander “unburied” more than 10,000 photo slides of his dad’s work and took us through his process of exploring grief through creativity with the goal of helping others find ways of sharing their own grief. This was a pertinent topic when many of us are struggling and may have suffered losses through the pandemic.
Another interesting topic was On the Horizon, which focused on where we’ve been and where we are going with treatment and therapies for bleeding disorders. Presenters Dr. Allison Wheeler, Dr. Robert Sidonio, and David Clark, Ph.D, discussed long-lasting factor products, bypassing agents and gene therapy. Certainly, an exciting time for new therapy treatments in the world of bleeding disorders!
In addition to many great sessions, there were Open House gatherings for Blood Brothers, Blood Sisters, Blood Families, and Sangre Latina! Closing out the event was a showing of the movie Bombardier Blood, depicting the inspiring story of Chris Bombardier, a mountain climber with hemophilia.
The best part of a family reunion is just that – reuniting! We all had a lot of catching up to do! People could be seen engaged in conversations over breakfast, lunch, dinner, between meals and in the evening at the lobby bar. For the first big national event in a while, this Texas-sized family reunion did not disappoint, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s Symposium!
Congratulations to HFA on their keen insight and detailed planning!
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