One in A Million

I have been struggling to write this post.  Not because I can’t find the words, but because I am getting used to saying them.

If you haven’t read my previous blog post,

it gives background information to this one. To summarize, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years is desperate for relief. She has spent all her money on doctors, but they have only made it worse, so she finds her way to Jesus in a crowd. She believes if she can just touch Jesus she would be healed. She is healed the second she touches Jesus.  Mark 5:25 -32

I always have had a special affinity for that woman, because I have struggled with a lifetime of bleeding issues.

As a little girl, I would get nosebleeds that would last an hour or more. Minor injuries will result in large bruises that tend to freak out other people. After my second child was born, I had a near-fatal post-partum hemorrhage. I lost half my blood volume in a matter of hours.

And for the past forty years, during my monthly cycle, I lose about a pint of blood, requiring intravenous iron infusions frequently throughout the year.

When you lose blood at such an alarming rate, it’s exhausting. I have moments when I am so drained of vitality that I can empathize with vampires who see a food group, not a human, in front of them.

I can identify with this scripture –

“She had borne much agony under the care of many physicians and had spent all she had, but to no avail. Instead, her condition had only grown worse.” Mark 5:26

I have seen many doctors. Over the course of my fifty-one years, no one ever connected the dots. Many outright blamed me, telling me my problems would end if I would just get a hysterectomy.  They were wrong.

It turns out I have a rare (one in a million) platelet disorder called Glanzmann’s Thrombasthenia.

Like hemophilia, my body doesn’t clot properly, so I bleed excessively. Glanzmann’s Thrombasthenia is a genetic platelet disorder. There is a protein on the surface of the platelets that needs to be working properly in order to get the platelets to hang out with each other, like fans at a rock concert. People with GT either don’t have enough of that protein, or it doesn’t work properly. In my case, I have enough of the surface proteins, but they don’t work correctly.

I have wrestled with writing any of this. I have spent time mentally minimizing it. “So, what if I have a rare bleeding disorder?  I have only almost died once. I don’t have cancer.”

I have spent time debating if it’s ‘worthy’ of being written about. “Does it matter?  Will it make a difference if anyone knows about it?  Most importantly, does it glorify God if I share this information?”

Hmmm.  The bleeding woman mentioned in Mark 5:25 mattered to Jesus. Her story is in the gospel for all eternity.

In the 5th chapter of Mark, we see that Jesus is Lord over demons, disease, and death. The bleeding woman’s story is meant to encourage readers to witness the power of Jesus. I hope that my story, in its smallest measure, can do the same.

 Maybe the woman in Mark 5:25 had a “one in a million” bleeding disorder. But she knew her hope lay with Jesus. No matter what you are going through, your hope lies with Him too.