Las Vegas Hemophilia Walk & 5K Planned for September 24
Hundreds of participants, including walkers, runners, individuals and teams, are expected to take part in the Las Vegas Hemophilia Walk & 5K on Saturday, September 24, 2016 at Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs in Northwest Las Vegas.
The Hemophilia Walk & 5K is the largest fundraising event for the Nevada Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation. The event promotes awareness of the many types of inherited bleeding and clotting disorders and also funds the chapter’s efforts advocating and educating on behalf of those diagnosed with hemophilia, von Willebrand disease and other bleeding disorders.
To register for the Las Vegas Hemophilia Walk & 5K, go to walk.hemophilia.org/lasvegasreno Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. at Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs, with the walk/run beginning at 8:30 a.m. Attendees will enjoy a light pre-walk breakfast, music, fun activities for children and a team t-shirt contest. Admission to Floyd Lamb Park is free for all walk participants. For additional registration questions, please contact Anne at 702-564-4368 or amcguire@hemophilia.org
All funds raised through the event will stay in Nevada, with the majority of proceeds being used to send children with inherited bleeding disorders —- along with siblings — to a special, medically supervised summer camp at no cost. Camp Independent Firefly offers kids, aged 7 to 17, the chance to interact with others like themselves and to feel supported while also learning independence in how they live with their life-long condition, for which there is no cure.
“Camp Independent Firefly is a wonderful asset because it offers these kids the kind of freedom they usually don’t have,” said Kelli Walters, Executive Director of the Nevada Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation. “So often, kids with inherited bleeding disorders are discouraged from being too active due to concerns about their safety or causing a possible bleed. With medical staff on site the entire week, Camp Independent Firefly is a safe and uplifting place filled with adventure.”
Inherited Bleeding Disorders Facts:
- More than 20,000 families in the United States are affected by inherited bleeding disorders
- Those with inherited bleeding disorders lack a protein that allows their blood to clot normally
- To control bleeds, a medicine called factor is often infused
- Hemophilia is most often passed from mother to son, but girls can also be affected
- Von Willebrand disease affects males and females equally
- One percent of the population is affected by von Willebrand disease, but one in 50 people may not know they have it