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Rare disorder causes woman to bleed for hours from smallest cut

A woman left baffled when small cuts on her body would bleed endlessly for hours on end has eventually been diagnosed with an extremely rare condition by doctors.

Natalia Slazack, 31, from the UK, started noticing noticing severe bruises on her legs despite not remembering any cause for them, while she would suffer from nose bleeds up to 24 hours long left her mystified.

The mystery of her condition was eventually laid to rest by doctors, months after her first symptoms, who diagnosed her with a rare bone marrow disorder called aplastic anaemia.

“My condition is really rare which is what makes me special,” she said.

UK woman's rare disorder causes her to bleed for hours from cuts
Natalia Slazack has a rare blood condition which only affects one in 25,000 people. Source: Australscope

After months in and out of hospital, it was decided she required a bone transplant from her brother.

The account manager’s symptoms included bleeding gums, extensive bruises and constant bleeding from tiny cuts or grazes because she had a blood platelet count of six, compared to a healthy person’s count of 400 platelets.

Aplastic anaemia can be hereditary, but Ms Slazack’s condition appeared to develop without any family history.

“I noticed bruises on my legs and I had a constant bleeding. If I cut my cuticles, which is the smallest cut ever, I would bleed for a few hours non-stop,” she said.

UK woman's rare disorder causes her to bleed for hours from cuts
She would be left in bruises and cuts she had no idea where they came from. Source: Australscope

The condition can be treated with a bone marrow transplant which gives a 90 per cent chance of survival, although it can lead to leukaemia or bone marrow cancer.

Aplastic anaemia affects approximately one in 25,000 people in Europe and America.

“The symptoms of aplastic anaemia are low blood counts, low counts of red and white blood cells as well as platelets. It means that you bleed all the time and any small cut can bleed for ages,” she said.

“One day my nose was bleeding for a whole day without stopping and I had to have a platelet transfusion because the bleeding stopped me from eating or drinking anything.”

UK woman's rare disorder causes her to bleed for hours from cuts
Her symptoms included bleeding gums which failed to clot. Source: Australscope

Her treatment included hundreds of blood and platelet transfusions to keep her alive while she endured a week of intensive chemotherapy to kill the immune system completely which would prepare it for the upcoming transplant from my brother.

“I was so happy to actually have a donor because there’s only a one in four chance of the sibling being a donor, and I only have one brother so there wasn’t much other option. But he was a 100 per cent donor match.”

Treatment included gruelling chemotherapy

Ms Slazack was warned about the problems that chemotherapy could cause her, including infertility and hair loss, and following this she later gained nine-pounds overnight due to the medications that were being pumped into her body.

“Before I went to hospital, I was told to freeze my eggs as chemotherapy affects your fertility, and they also told me to shave my hair off,” she recalled.

“I gained nine-pounds overnight a few days after the chemotherapy. Most of it was fluids as I was on steroids to make sure the transplant would work and so that I didn’t get a disease.”

“At that time, I didn’t look like myself at all, which was really hard but even still, it’s a small price to pay to be alive now.”

Ms Slazack revealed she feels much stronger following the transplant and says her victory against the condition is “priceless”.

She urged anyone who develops the rare disorder to stay strong and never give up, words she will tell herself if the condition returns.

“It could come back again, and it could be worse, but I know I will fight again if I have to and I will try to win again,” she said.