A Memorial Audio-Visual Project honouring those lost by the bleeding community – we ask for your participation.

Memorial art, the way we remember those we have lost has many forms. You are likely aware of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and the all too numerous war memorials such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. More recently however, it’s evolved beyond monuments of stone and the art itself. The USC Shoah Foundation – the Institute for Visual History and Education is dedicated to making audio-visual interviews and collecting written essays from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides. The 9/11 Memorial Museum tells the story of 9/11 through media, narratives, and a collection of authentic artifacts. Sharing with visitors these personal stories of loss, recovery, and hope.

These endeavours are not just living history but a compelling voice for education and action and are important to communities healing from trauma. They speak to the people of today and the future.
The bleeding disorders community is no stranger to the loss of loved ones. We think it is important to help bring forward the lessons and knowledge from the losses our community has faced – to activate them and to enliven those we have lost. Numbers are easy to dismiss; names, faces, and their stories are not. We want to give those people an honoured place and resonance within the here and now and bring healing to the community. And hopefully, we can help prepare the next generation to guard against these kinds of preventable losses from happening again. Within these memorials are road maps to empowerment and activism.

At the WFH 2022 World Congress in Montreal, we would like to feature such stories, mini memorials, from our community. It is our belief that knowing something about the people who have left us and those who have survived, will strengthen our bonds with each other and help to ensure all people with bleeding disorders will enjoy a more certain future filled with promise, no matter where they live.

On behalf of the WFH 2022 World Congress Multidisciplinary Program Committee, we invite you to submit short videos of your stories of loss. The videos can be from persons with inherited bleeding disorders who have experienced the loss of community members, or caregivers, friends and family members of a person who has passed- share your story of a person who has been lost as a direct result of their inherited bleeding disorder. Or, if you have a bleeding disorder yourself, share your story of living with a bleeding disorder – and managing your condition.

Your mini memorial can be recorded anywhere you like, on any device you like. Below are some tips on recording and some questions/prompts to get you started. These videos will be displayed at the upcoming WFH World Congress. Videos accepted in all languages.