Kristy Coleman

Dating in your 40s is an animal all its own. Add living with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) to the mix, and dating becomes that much harder. Will the person be understanding of my rare disease? Will they be compassionate when I’m managing medication side effects and hospital stays? Who would sign up for this? Who would want to date me when I have a health condition that affects my daily life? Sure, I have many excellent attributes; I’m a well-established young woman.

In living with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) for almost 7 years now, my biggest takeaway is that this rare disease affects people in many different ways on many different levels. I’ve been in a heavy relapse for almost a year, a year of living lab result to lab result. I religiously go every Monday at 6 AM to get poked and prodded and then pray for good news. I’m on the treatment Doptelet®, and while some days the labs show I’m improving, other days I’m declining. It’s a real roller coaster.