Rare Blood Disorder Startles Family, “He Looked Like Someone Stabbed Him to Death”

Christmas morning is supposed to be about smiles, laughter and good cheer.

For one Gainesville family in 2011, it was complete horror and panic, as Beronica Nash awoke to find her 6-month-old son Jeremiah soaked in blood.

“I thought he was dead,” she said. “What it looked like was someone came into my house, stabbed him to death and left.”

An immediate trip to the hospital would bring only temporary relief. Jeremiah started bleeding again on the way home, marking the first step in what has been an incredibly challenging journey for the Nashes.
After more hospital and doctor visits, Jeremiah eventually would be diagnosed with Bernard-Soulier syndrome, a rare genetic disease marked by uncontrollable bleeding.

Jeremiah, now 4, had been getting blood transfusions every week at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta at Egleston.

“Now it’s every other week unless something happens in between,” Beronica Nash said.

“A couple of weeks ago, we were at church and I could not go into the service because he started bleeding,” she said, adding that his nose typically is the source of the “bleeds.”

“You never know when it’s going to start.”

Her husband, Deitrich Nash, nodded in agreement.

“It catches you by surprise sometimes,” he said. “You never get used to it — I mean never.”

Beronica Nash had to quit her job at the Hall County Clerk of Courts to be Jeremiah’s full-time caregiver. As part of his care, she was trained to give Jeremiah medications through a port imbedded in his chest.

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