The tragical story of the boy who gave his name to ‘Christmas disease’ – and died just days before December 25

THE name 'Christmas disease' might conjure up ideas of a deadly illness that struck over the festive period many years ago.

But the condition, it ain't like that at all, ya know? It's actually named after the first boy who had it - a boy called Stephen Christmas. Yo, Christmas Disease is a blood clotting disorder named after the first recorded person who got it, Stephen Christmas, ya dig? Stephen was diagnosed with the disease back in 1952 when he was like five years old or whatever.

But man, let me tell ya, he went through some tough times with them doctors. They couldn't figure out what the hell was going on with him, you know? They gave him all sorts of diagnoses like von Willebrand’s disease and haemophilia. Ain't that something?

These two conditions, they mess with your blood's ability to clot, you know what I'm saying? It makes the bleedings take a helluva long time to stop, man.

Okay, check this out. According to the Journal of Medical Humanities Hektoen International, when Stephen was just a toddler of 14 months old, he accidentally crushed his hand with a toy. Yeah, it caused this big thing called a haematoma to form on his hand and forearm. That's freaking crazy, bro!

So, Stephen, he was born in England and then his fam moved to Canada after the war, you know? And after that first incident, they had to rush him to the hospital like eight more times, man. It was a nightmare.

But yo, it wasn't until 1952 that the doctors actually figured out what was up with him. Can you believe that? I mean, my mind is blown! So, my man Stephen had been diagnosed with classic haemophilia before, but then these scientists from Oxford decided to test his blood, you know, just out of curiosity, I guess. And guess what? They found out that he didn't have this Factor VIII protein that haemophiliacs usually lack or whatever. No, no, it was another protein that was missing. These smart alecks called it the Christmas Factor, bro, but they later changed it to Factor IX, you know?

So, these scientists, they published their findings on December 27, 1952. Just a couple days after Christmas, man! They were like, "Yo, this is Christmas Disease! We were wrong, man, it ain't haemophilia." That's what they said in their paper titled: 'Christmas Disease: A Condition Previously Mistaken for Haemophilia'.

People be calling Christmas Disease haemophilia B these days. I mean, what a trip! These findings, man, they changed the game on studying haemophilia and blood coagulation.

Meanwhile, Stephen's name was becoming famous among the medical peeps.

Alright, let's get to the heartbreak now. Stephen grew up and went to study photography at Ryerson University. He even worked as a medical photographer at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto for some years. Yeah, my man knew his stuff!

But here's the real kicker, bro. Like so many people with his condition, Stephen had to rely on blood transfusions to treat blood loss, which is whack. And then, like, the AIDS crisis came along, you know, wreaking havoc in the early eighties. It was a nightmare for everyone.

In 1985, when Stephen was 38, he got diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). And guess what? He wasn't the only one, man! According to Andre Picard's The Gift of Death, almost half the dudes with haemophilia in Canada had HIV by 1989. That's messed up, bro.

So yea, Stephen started this treatment called zidovudine (AZT), you know, trying to fight off the shit that was messing with his body. And he got involved in all this stuff to get people compensated for the contaminated blood. He was all about it, man! He was doing archival work and even appeared in a freaking documentary about the whole thing. Respect, bro!

And you know what? Stephen finally got his compensation, like four years before he died. That's some good news, I guess.

But then, July 1993 rolls around and they hit him with a stage 4 malignant melanoma diagnosis. It was bad, man! The dude had ignored a leg lesion for two whole years, can you believe that? That's some crazy shit right there!

So, in December of that year, Stephen was moved to palliative care and died just four days short of Christmas on December 21, 1993. Damn, it's like fate had it out for him or something.

So, what's haemophilia B all about? Let me school you, man. It's like a clotting disorder, you know? It's different from the classic haemophilia, which they call haemophilia A. With this B type, there's this protein missing from the blood that makes it unable to clot like it's supposed to when someone gets hurt, if you feel me. It's like a damn life-threatening situation 'cause you can lose a lot of blood, man. And yo, only dudes get affected by it. It's the mamas who got the gene that causes this haemophilia B shit, you know? It gets passed down from parent to child and all that.

But yo, sometimes the gene just pops up out of nowhere, you know? It's like, they got no family history of this bleeding disorder, but it still happens. Crazy, right?

The age when the kids start showing signs of haemophilia B, it varies, you know? They might have it straight outta the womb, or it might go unnoticed until they get injured or have surgery.

And let me tell you, man, people with this condition, when they do get hurt, they bleed like crazy, man. It's like they don't know when to stop, you know what I'm saying?

So yeah, that's the deal with Stephen Christmas and the disease that carries his name. It's a trip, bro. Life can be a real piece of work sometimes, you know?