Chloe Christos, 27 is an art director and a stylist from Australia. She got her 1st period at the age of 14 and then till she was 19 she kept on bleeding continuously for 5 years, each day owing to a rare medical condition.

Every girl, every woman in her lifetime at least for once will face problems with her menstrual cycle. Every month women struggle with PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome) and the Period days. Although, every woman is different and every woman’s body follows her own rhythm of menstrual cycle; on an average, a period lasts between 3 to 5 days or in case of some women, maximum for 7 days.

But for 5 years?? 5 years of periods, the bleeding, menstrual pain and mood swings it brings along. Chloe did not open up to anybody regarding her continuous menstrual bleeding for 5 years, as she was embarrassed about her condition and thought she was alone in this. She did not take any treatment for this until she was 19. At the age of 19, she finally shared her angst and got herself diagnosed with Von Willebrand Disease, a blood disorder where blood doesn’t clot properly.

In addition to an increased menstrual bleeding, people with Von Willebrand disease may experience blood in their stools or urine, bleeding from very minor injuries, bleeding from the gums, frequent nosebleeds, and easy bruising/bruising with lumps. Heavy menstrual bleeding, however, is the main sign of the condition in women.

Due to heavy bleeding at the age of 19, Chloe got anemia which got so severe that she had to take weekly iron infusions. She would lose almost half a litre of blood every 4 days. As a result of weakness due to constant blood loss, Chloe would end up in emergency room quite often, every couple of weeks. Even Doctors were not sure how to treat her. She was prescribed a synthetic medicine which would make the bleeding stop for 12 hours but then the bleeding would start again soon as the medicine’s effect ended. It was not giving any solution. Chloe in her interview with ABC news said, “A lot of statistics and data is kept on diagnosis and treatment for men. There’s almost nothing on women that doctors can refer to, and I hope we can change that.”

Many doctors also suggested her Hysterectomy to stop her periods. To this, Chloe responded – “I don’t know if I ever want kids but I never wanted to get rid of what made me a woman. And I was terrified of being in my mid-twenties and going through menopause…I definitely became frustrated.”

In her early twenties, she found a new mode of treatment when she reached out to Haemophilia Treatment centre in Adelaide and took a blood product which is given to men with Haemophilia. This blood product seemed to have worked for her, it stopped her irregular bleeding and now she could have a normal period just like other females if she had that medicine in the beginning of her menstrual cycle. She mentions, “This condition has presented me with the most challenging times in my life but by meeting other patients and specialists, and keeping up to date by attending conferences and events I’ve been able to improve my quality of life and will continue to do so to help & reach out to others.”

Chloe is now on a mission to raise awareness for women with blood disorders like Von Willebrand disease which actually affect the quality of life of the people facing it. Chloe says, “I have had first hand experience in discrimination in regards to this over the last 7 years when needing assistant to help control severe bleeding episodes that there is a great lack of education and awareness about bleeding disorders and that they can happen amongst women.

I found it particularly hard at times for even doctors to treat me equally when presenting at emergency rooms and being refused treatment altogether because I’m either a female or not taken seriously, and still do to this day. This has been mostly due to a lack of knowledge and awareness and this happens all over the world.

Chloe has started a GoFundMe Page through which she is trying to raise funds so that she can take this baton of awareness to a global stage at World Congress in Orlando. She states on her page, “There is nothing I am more passionate about in this world than equal rights, and treatment for all, being the most invested kind of candidate being a patient myself in representing and supporting people with bleeding disorders as all my friends, family and bleeding disorder community will know.”

OoWomaniya supports and is in solidarity with Chloe Christos in her efforts to raise awareness for Blood disorders and equal rights of women to medical treatment. We really hope that women with irregular bleeding or for that matter with any constant irregular symptom must take help without getting embarrassed about their own body and draw medical attention to it as soon as possible.

Source – ABC News & Chloe’s GoFundMe Page