Welcome to Living with Von Willebrand’s Disease Community!
Von Willebrand’s Disease is a common hereditary coagulation abnormality caused by a qualitative or quantitative deficiency of von Willebrand factor (vWF). Von Willebrand factor (vWF) is a protein that is essential for platelet adhesion.
There are three forms of VWD: inherited, acquired and pseudo or platelet type. There are three types of inherited VWD: Type I, Type II and Type III. Platelet type VWD is also an inherited condition.
VWD Type I is more common than Types II and III, and those that have it are typically asymptomatic or may experience mild symptoms such as nosebleeds, although there may be severe symptoms in some cases.
This site is a virtual community intended to be a safe place for patients and family members as young as age 12, to visit for information, discussion, venting and mutual support. Members come from many backgrounds. Some have a strong religious faith, and others no faith; some are children and others adults, rich and poor, graduate educated or taught by life. Our common denominators are that we share a life journey, and we try to help each other.
Though we get occasional visits from medical doctors, the site is not routinely supported by medical professionals. Nobody here can diagnose you or tell you what your treatment choices “should” be. We might inform your choices by sharing individual experiences and information developed by study as lay people. But Living with Von Willebrand’s Disease is not intended to replace the advice or treatment of licensed medical professionals. Readers should validate any information they take away from here, against the experience of a licensed medical doctor. Site owners and moderators are not legally responsible for the accuracy of information shared on the site.
Visitors should also be aware that our discussion forums and groups are publicly accessible and frequently searched by Google. Thus your speech here should be considered “public”. If you’re tempted to write something about another person that you wouldn’t say to their face, then we counsel you to think first. Speech can be consequential.
Living with Von Willebrand’s Disease is supported by unpaid volunteer moderators who validate and register new members and monitor ongoing discussions, photo postings and Blogs. Very often, moderators are themselves patients or family members of patients. Most of the time, moderators tend to keep a low profile, except in their roles as members of the community who may be well-informed about the state of medicine and research.