Save one life, save many

From becoming a haemophilia nurse to leading Haemnet’s lived experience research, Dr Kate Khair has spent decades seeking to improve the lives of people with bleeding disorders in different ways. As she joins the board of the Save One Life charity, ‘Sister Kate’ shares some of what has brought her there. 

It started in Bangladesh

I never thought I would be a children’s haemophilia nurse, having thought adult surgery was my forte when I was doing my training. However, life sometimes has different plans for you – and the plans it had for me have led to the chance to make a difference.

In 1991 I was on holiday in Bangladesh. I had just started being a haemophilia nurse and (being nosey) I was interested to find out what care was like there for people living with bleeding disorders. In short, there was very little in the way of treatment and care. But the warmth and hospitality I came across was amazing. 

The people I met welcomed both me and my interest in their situation. The chairman of the local patient organisation invited me to his home to meet some people who were impacted by haemophilia but who had come together for mutual support. 

I was struck by many things: the very limited (or complete lack of) access to treatment, the limited joined-up health care, and people with haemophilia who suffered with terrible joints and limited life expectancy. And it stayed with me.

Beyond bleeding

Over the (many) years since this eye-opening trip, I have been extremely fortunate to have visited patient organisations and families in many countries with the World Federation of Hemophilia and Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation (now Novo Nordisk Haemophilia & Haemoglobinopathies Foundation). I have always been made to feel very welcome and have enjoyed being ‘Sister Kate’ to the many people I’ve met. 

During this time, what has struck me most of all is the impact that haemophilia has on patients and families beyond bleeding. 

Think about a family who have four boys with haemophilia in a rural East African village. They live hours away from a main road, they’re subsistence farmers, and they get all their water from the river. The boys need treatment – there’s no doubt about that. But what helped that family most wasn’t factor – it was funding for a water tank, to store rainwater.

That water tank allowed them to water their crops more easily, which in turn helped them to eke out a slightly better living. It meant they had some money for transport that would help get the boys to school. In the face of such austerity, the parents’ ‘want’ for their children to be educated was huge.

Like minds and empowerment

Along the way in this journey, I kept bumping into Laureen Kelly, the founder of Save One Life, and someone whose views about how to help improve lives with haemophilia I share.

Save One Life has grown over the years but started when Laureen was able to establish programmes that enabled sponsorship of children with haemophilia around the world. For a relatively small amount of dollars per year, the sponsorship makes a huge difference to children with bleeding disorders and their families by helping with the cost of medicines and treatment, transport, education… 

Of course, I sponsored one of the children. Or two or three or four, perhaps. 

Later, Save One Life introduced enterprise grants, again giving small donations to individuals to study, set up small businesses and to become self-sufficient. As their vision statement says, all of Save One Life’s work aims to ensure that people with bleeding disorders in developing countries have access to the medical and economic resources they need for independent and productive lives. 

Yes, it’s about making sure people impacted by haemophilia have treatment – but it’s also about empowerment.

Joining Save One Life

It goes without saying that when I was invited to join the Board of Save One Life, I didn’t have to think about it for very long. I am delighted and honoured to be joining them, and I look forward to working with Save One Life and the families around the world that they support. 

There are some amazing success stories on the Save One Life website – where you can also find out how to support their work or become a sponsor. 

About the author

Dr Kate Khair is CEO and Director of Research at Haemnet Ltd.