HoG Scholarship Recipient Katie A. Shares Her Story
Horizons in Hemophilia, January 2012
By Katie A., College Student
My name is Katie. I am twenty years old and I am a sophomore at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia. My major is Music Therapy and I am working to earn a minor in Creative Arts Therapy.
Like many other students in Milledgeville, I live in a small, three-bedroom house about a mile away from the university’s campus with two close friends. Each semester, I take an average of sixteen to eighteen hours of classes and they keep me extremely busy. As a music therapy major, I have declared voice as my primary instrument, but I also play ukulele, guitar, and piano. Music therapy majors also participate in “clinicals” where each student volunteers in the area to observe licensed music therapists as well as lead our own music therapy sessions. In the most recent fall semester, I lead half-hour sessions two days a week at the public preschool. I also worked with an individual client at Central State Hospital, which is a mental illness treatment facility about ten minutes away from school. Three evenings a week, I have a part-time job at the University’s Phonathon. My job entails calling alumni and students’ parents to ask for monetary donations to the school. Although it sounds like I am one of those pesky telemarketers, I actually really do enjoy my job and I was most recently named the top earning caller!
Growing up, my parents and I noticed that my body was extremely prone to bruising. I would barely bump into something, but I would develop very large and colorful bruises. My bruising never really bothered us until I came home from a mission trip in the sixth grade and my legs were covered in bruises, but I had not experienced any trauma to my legs. My parents took me to see my pediatrician who referred me to a hematologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. After many blood tests, I was diagnosed with a Storage Pool Disease/ Platelet defect, which is very similar to the bleeding disorder, von Willebrand Disease. I started wearing a Medical Alert® bracelet, keeping bleeding disorder prescription medicine at my house, and visiting my hematologist on a regular basis. My bleeding disorder is mild and although it is something to be aware of, it rarely causes me any major medical issues.
I first became aware of Hemophilia of Georgia’s services when I was diagnosed with my bleeding disorder. Each time I visit the hematologist, I speak with one of the HoG Social Workers who makes sure that I am doing well and that I have my bleeding disorder under control. Hemophilia of Georgia also provides me with the bleeding disorder medications that I take, because my regular doctor’s office does not carry the medicine.
My senior year of high school, when I started filling out college applications, I also started filling out scholarship applications. My father is a police officer and my mother is a teacher. Financially, my family does well, but as many of us know, college tuition is extremely expensive, and paying for all the expenses that come with a college education can cause financial strain in even the most affluent of families. Knowing this, I made scholarship applications my part-time job for the entirety of my senior year of high school. I submitted almost thirty scholarship applications in eight months and I was so very blessed to receive three scholarships my freshman year that totaled to $1,750 in addition to Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship. Hemophilia of Georgia was so very generous in awarding me a scholarship my first year that can be renewed for four-years as long as I maintain an acceptable GPA. I was so overjoyed when I was awarded my first scholarship from HOG, because I knew that every penny helped my parents in feeling more financially stable through my college experience.
I worked diligently during my freshman year of college earning a higher GPA than I had ever earned in high school. I continued to fill out scholarship applications and I was amazed when Hemophilia of Georgia not only renewed my scholarship, but increased the amount. I cannot even begin to describe how elated I was to receive my scholarship this year. On that day, I sat in my driveway and called all of my friends and family and just cried and cried, because I was just so excited. Due to HoG’s generous donation, in addition to a few other private scholarships, my parents have not needed to pay for tuition, books, or university fees for three semesters. I will be forever grateful to Hemophilia of Georgia’s staff and its donors for everything that they have done to make living with a bleeding disorder so much more manageable.