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Lutz Knabe: One Child’s Journey from Pain to Hope Beyond Severe Bleeding Disorder

Lutz Knabe/LinkedIn

Apr 25, 2026, 10:05

Lutz Knabe: One Child’s Journey from Pain to Hope Beyond Severe Bleeding Disorder

Lutz Knabe, Global Partner of People Living with Bleeding Disorders at Roche, shared a post on LinkedIn:

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I wish you that you will experience in 2026 moments of gratitude and joy as I have experienced them in January 2023.

It is now three years ago, when I met Francois with his 10 years young son, George, at the El Hadji Ahmadou hospital in Thies in Senegal.

I will never forget what Francois told me that day.

Francois was living with his son and wife about 50 km away from Thies in a simple hut in the bush.

They lived a hard live, earning their income from a few chickens and a vegetable garden behind the hut.

There are no streets in this bush area.

A primary school exists a 3 km walk away from the hut.

Francois told me that George never had been able to attend the first two classes in primary school, as he is living with a severe bleeding disorder.

Since he was a small boy, George had to stay in bed very often and had terrible pain because of his bleeds which could not be treated as there was no medicine available for him.

He suffered a lot of pain and felt lonely, when he heard other boys around the hut were playing in the fields.

He missed school for nearly two years and was locked into his home.

After these difficult years George was selected by his treating physician in the Thies hospital to get access to a medicine that stopped his bleedings, which never happened gain, said Francois.

From that day onwards, George could walk the 3 kilometers to school in the morning and back in the afternoon and played happily with his friends in the fields.

When Francois told me in 2023, how grateful he is for the donated medicine that changed his and son’s life forever, my heart smiled for a long time….”

Lutz Knabe: One Child’s Journey from Pain to Hope Beyond Severe Bleeding Disorder