As the holiday season ends, so does much of the generosity that comes with it. Angel trees come down. Gift drives wrap up. Volunteer shifts at food banks return to their usual pace. During the holidays, giving feels urgent and visible. Once the decorations are packed away, much of that attention fades. 

Every five years, Takeda Pharmaceuticals manufactures a treatment for infant botulism at its Los Angeles site.

Pregnancy is full of big moments. The first heartbeat, the first kick, the first glimpse of who your child might become. And then there are moments that feel small. Routine. Forgettable. For me, one of those moments was a shot. During my first pregnancy, I was told that I have a Rh-negative blood type and that I would need a RhoGAM shot.

Hemophilia has been a constant thread in my family’s story. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my father’s weekly plasma treatments . It was a regular part of our family’s daily life, but looking back, I realized those treatments weren’t just routine, they were his lifeline.