Assistance helps offset medical bills for Summerlin girl with rare disorder

Josie Hatem of Summerlin has a solid job as an administrative assistant with good health insurance. One day her 3½-year-old daughter Tatiana began bleeding profusely from her nose.

“I put her (head) over the sink in the restroom,” Hatem said. “But we couldn’t stop it. … The restroom looked like a crime scene.”

She took her daughter to the emergency room. At first, doctors thought her daughter had cancer. Further tests through a specialist narrowed it down to idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets, needed for normal blood clotting. ITP can disappear as quickly as it starts.

Tatiana’s platelet counts were stabilized a couple of weeks later, and she only needed follow-up visits three times a year to ensure things were still good. Anytime she bumped her head, she had to be taken to the hospital. Head injuries are notorious for causing profuse bleeding.

Then, in summer 2015, Tatiana suffered more nosebleeds. Platelet infusions were ordered.

“Even with that, they never got up to the minimum,” Hatem said of her daughter’s platelet count.

There were more tests, specialists, needles and prodding. When Tatiana was held back from playing sports, her classmates would ask why.

“I just say, ‘I can’t because of my medical condition because of platelets, and they say, ‘What are platelets?’ I tell them it’s blood and it makes your body parts new,’” Tatiana, now 9 and a fourth-grader at Bonner Elementary School, said.

With all the poking and prodding and weekly physical therapy, Tatiana never complained, her mother said.

But inside, Hatem was asking, “Why me?” She has been a single parent since 2013, and the bills were piling up.

“It was overwhelming. Just the co-pays alone, it was $25 for each visit and she was having physical therapy every week and visits to the specialist every week, and then my car broke down,” she said, adding, “The doctor’s office would say, ‘You need to come in, You have a balance.’”

One of the physician’s office workers at the Children’s Specialty Center of Nevada in Las Vegas suggested she apply for a grant through the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation. The grants offer financial help to families with children who have medical needs not covered by health insurance.

Families can receive up to $5,000 annually per child ($10,000 lifetime maximum) and do not need to have insurance through UnitedHealthcare. Trevor Hayes, regional director of communications of UnitedHealthcare, said the grant helps relieve stress for recipient families, knowing there is financial help.

Hatem uses it to cover her co-pays, which can add up to $200 a month. She said she no longer stays awake at night wondering how to pay the bills.

Visit uhccf.org.

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.