By Felicia Buibas

March was bleeding disorders awareness month. Von Willebrand Disease (VWD) is the most common type of bleeding disorder; it affects an estimate of one percent of the world’s population. Most symptoms can be mild; therefore, many affected people have not been diagnosed or do not get diagnosed until later on in life. There are five classifications of VWD: VWD type 1, VWD type 2, VWD type 3, pseudo-VWD, and acquired. VWD was discovered by a Finnish doctor, Erik von Willebrand. He was the first to characterize VWD that he found in families on the Aland Islands. He could not identify the actual cause for this bleeding disorder, but he was able to distinguish it from other bleeding disorders.