Haemophilia and von Willebrand's are HEREDITARY.
This means that like the colour of your eyes or hair they are something you get from your parents.
You can't choose if you have a bleeding disorder or not. If you have one, it's because you were born that way.
They are not like colds...you definitely can't catch it off someone else!
Who gets Haemophilia?
Usually only boys get haemophilia, although girls can get a mild type of it and there is a very tiny number of girls in the world with proper haemophilia.
Who gets von Willebrand's?
Unlike haemophilia, girls are just as likely as boys to get this. It is usually a lot milder than haemophilia, which means you are less likely to bleed
It's a family thing
Usually, when a baby boy is born with haemophilia there is another family member with it, such as an uncle or grandfather. Sometimes, though, it appears and no-one has ever seen it before in the family.
When a girl or boy has von Willebrand's, usually either her or his father or mother have it and quite a few other close family members, although this is not always true.
Why does Harry have haemophilia but his little brother Stan doesn't? -your answers
Harry has haemophilia because he was born with the haemophilia X (the gene) and Stan wasn't. (Shane)
Harry has got the affected X chrosmosone from his mum which passed on haemophilia to him and his brother has the other X chromosone from his mum which means he has no haemophilia (Yoel)
