DJ IS IN THE BUILDING

Narrator:

ELOCTATE antihemophilic factor recombinant FC fusion protein. Please stay tuned for important safety information at the end of this video.

DJ:

The first time I ever got on the drum set I fell in love with it. When I'm in the groove, I feel great. I feel alive. I feel like everything is going to be alright. It's pretty remarkable, I think. My name is DJ. I'm from Indianapolis and I have hemophilia A.

I was diagnosed at birth. My grandfather also had Hemophilia A and so did my older brother. When people would ask me about hemophilia, I would always say “oh, it's a long story” because I felt like it would make me a weirdo in their eyes. My family is very important to me — my sister, Whitney and my girlfriend, Christina. They've been 1000% supportive of me and I'm making sure that I'm doing right by myself and my hemophilia.

Another passion of mine is comic books. Regular people who put on masks to save the world — they were dealing with the same kind of idea that I was. They lived their lives as two people. Those superheroes wanted people to know who they were. That's kind of how I thought about my hemophilia as I wanted to be, you know, myself. I didn't want to be defined by something that I did when I had on a mask.

I was approached about ELOCTATE through my doctors and HTC team about it having a prolonged half-life. When talking to my doctor about making the transition to ELOCTATE, we discussed the potential benefits and risks, and when I felt like he answered all the questions I had, I decided to make the transition. What I like about ELOCTATE is the fact that I can have those options to find a schedule that works. Since making the transition to ELOCTATE, I haven't had any bleeds, but I encourage everyone to talk to their doctors to find what works best for them.

Common side effects of ELOCTATE are joint pain and general discomfort. When I stop hiding my hemophilia with my friends and the world really, is an uplifting feeling. It put everything in perspective for me — like there's only one you. You define yourself because now, when people ask me what hemophilia is I don't tell them “it's a long story.” I tell them exactly what hemophilia is, and like “I'm DJ.” That's, that's the end of the story you know.