Crest Hill proclaims Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month; local family shares experience

Crest Hill — The council paused its agenda to recognize March as Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month and to allow residents Jenny Moore and her son John to brief the city on their experience living with severe hemophilia A.

Jenny Moore, introduced as a Crest Hill resident from Ward 1, described her son John as a third-generation family member with severe hemophilia A and explained that the disorder affects roughly one in 5,000 male births. She described treatment as factor replacement therapy that can require infusions multiple times per week, and she said access to care remains expensive. Moore also discussed historic impacts on the bleeding-disorder community from tainted blood products during the early AIDS epidemic and noted that advocacy and safer therapies have changed treatment but access challenges persist, particularly for women whose bleeding disorders have been historically underrecognized.

Moore said she volunteers with the Bleeding Disorder Alliance of Illinois, based in Chicago, which provides education, resources and advocacy across northern Illinois. She urged residents to seek evaluation for bleeding symptoms such as prolonged nosebleeds, excessive bruising, or unusual bleeding after surgery, and she thanked the council for the proclamation recognizing the month.

Council members thanked the family for speaking and congratulated John on winning a poster contest in his fifth-grade class. The council had unanimously passed the proclamation on March 17 but the Moore family was present at this meeting to receive the recognition in person.

Why it matters: The item placed a spotlight on a rare medical condition and on local advocacy resources available through a regional chapter of a bleeding-disorder organization.