Are They or Aren't They? Famous (and Rumored) Hemophiliacs
Hemophilia is a genetic blood disorder. Simply put, when a person suffering from hemophilia gets cut or bruised, they will bleed profusely because their blood does not clot properly. This means very, very minor injuries can actually lead to death from blood loss.
With modern genetic counseling and testing, parents can find out before the birth of their child if he or she is a hemophiliac. Back in the day, however, parents only found out when their kids started toddling around, running into stuff, falling down, and then bleeding all over the place. Or they found out when they had their son circumcised and, well, enough said.
Hemophilia is sometimes referred to as the “royal disease” in homage to Queen Victoria of England, who possessed the recessive X chromosome that causes hemophilia. She passed this disorder on to her son, Leopold, and to a lot of royal houses across Europe through her children. So who else, aside from royalty, has suffered from this unfortunate blood disorder? Some of the rumored hemophiliacs might surprise you.
Richard Burton - Gengis Khan - Abraham Lincoln - Mother Teresa - Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich - Prince Leopold - Ryan White
1. Richard Burton
Hemophilia status: Confirmed
Richard Burton was a famous movie star in the 1960s and 1970s. He was nominated for seven Academy Awards during his career for roles in movies like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Becket. But perhaps Burton was best known for his infamous relationship with fellow movie star Elizabeth Taylor. The two struck up an affair while filming Cleopatra in 1962, divorced their spouses in order to marry each other, and then divorced each other in 1974. They remarried in 1975, only to divorce yet again a year later.
According to Time Magazine, Burton suffered all his life from a mild form of hemophilia. In 1964, he even formed the Richard Burton Hemophilia Fund, with then-wife Taylor as chairwoman, to raise money for research on the disorder. In 1984, Burton died of a cerebral hemorrhage at just 58 years old.
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2. Genghis Khan
Hemophilia Status: Rumored
Genghis Kahn was one of the most famous conquerors in history, conquering more territory than anyone other ruler in history. In 1206, Kahn unified the tribes of Mongolia and created an organized military state. Not only did he rule Mongolia (and quite a bit of the rest of Asia), he extended the reach of the empire westward toward Europe. Kahn is remembered for his religious tolerance, presiding over the creation of the first Mongol written language, and the development of a legal code.
Historical gossip claims that Kahn was a hemophiliac, but this seems rather doubtful. Before the mid-20th century, most hemophiliacs died before their teenage years from blood loss after relatively minor injuries. It's hard to imagine that a warrior from the 13th century could lead his army into battle and rule an empire for 21 years without sustaining a nick or serious bruise. However, Kahn supposedly died from internal injuries after falling off a startled horse. If Kahn was a hemophiliac, his disorder would have contributed to the fatal nature of these injuries.
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3. Abraham Lincoln
Hemophilia status: Rumored
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, and he presided over the nation during the U.S. Civil War. Growing up, Lincoln struggled to obtain an education while working on a farm and managing a store. He was a captain in the army, a lawyer, and a member of the Illinois legislature before becoming president. After winning re-election in 1864, Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
Over the years, there has been plenty of speculation about Lincoln's health. Many people believe he suffered from a genetic disorder of some kind, although no one knew for certain what that genetic disorder might be. The two disorders most people suspect are hemophilia or Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder of the connective tissue that holds the body together and helps control how the body grows. People who suffer from Marfan syndrome are typically tall and thin with large, narrow hands and feet. This certainly fits the physical description of Lincoln, who was nearly 6 feet 4 inches tall.
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4. Mother Teresa
Hemophilia Status: Rumored
Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who won the Nobel Peace prize in 1979 for her charity work. She was born in Macedonia in 1910, and became a missionary at 18 years old. Mother Teresa moved to India, where she received permission to leave the convent and devote her life to working in the slums of Calcutta. One of her legacies is the Missionaries of Charity, an international religious organization that provides support to people who are otherwise abandoned by society.
Rumors claim Mother Teresa was a hemophiliac, but the evidence is not compelling. Because hemophilia is a recessive, sex-linked X chromosome disorder, to be a hemophiliac Mother Teresa would have to have inherited a problematic X chromosome from each of her parents. If she received just one recessive X chromosome, then she wouldn't have exhibited any symptoms of the disorder. Additionally, before the mid-20th century most hemophiliacs died relatively early. Mother Teresa, however, was a healthy and active woman until she died at in 1997 at 87 years old.
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5. Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia
Hemophilia status: Confirmed
Prior to modern treatment methods for hemophilia, which were developed in the mid-20th century, a hemophiliac wasn't expected to live to see his adolescence. This is a problem if you're the sole male heir to a large empire, like Alexei Nikolaevich, a descendant of hemophilia-carrier Queen Victoria of England. Destined to one day become the ruler of Russia, Alexi suffered from frequent bleeding episodes.
The royal family and their advisors tried many different doctors and treatments for the future czar's hemophilia. They even hired Grigori Efimovich Rasputin, who was able to mysteriously stop the bleeding. However, Rasputin's unpopularity and the royal family's preoccupation with Alexi's heath during a time of crisis in Russia led to the ultimate assassination of the entire family and Rasputin.
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6. Prince Leopold
Hemophilia status: Confirmed
As mentioned earlier, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, was the son of Queen Victoria of England and her husband, Prince Albert. Leopold was discovered to have hemophilia when he was very young and spent most of his childhood as an invalid.
Because of his illness, Leopold was unable to serve in the military and was rejected from political job opportunities. Despite this, Leopold married and fathered two children, and became friends with famous authors Louis Carroll and Oscar Wilde before his sudden, hemophilia-related death in 1884.
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7. Ryan White
Hemophilia status: Confirmed
In the 1980s, Ryan White, an American hemophiliac, garnered international attention when he contracted AIDS at just 13 years of age from a blood transfusion. White needed the transfusion after experiencing a bleeding episode caused by his hemophilia, but because blood donations weren't screened prior to 1985, Ryan was given a transfusion that contained HIV. Before his death, Ryan became famous fighting for his right to attend school even though he had AIDS.
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Article Resources:
Columbia University
EmedicineHealth
Encyclopedia Britannica
Human Heredity: Principles and Issues, By Michael Cummings
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
National Hemophilia Foundation
Nobel Prize.org
The Official Website of the British Royal Family
PBS: Queen Victoria
RichardBurton.com
RyanWhite.com
WhiteHouse.Gov
Time Magazine, June 26, 1964
HemaBlog
New York Times, Aug. 6, 1984
Alamo Colleges
National Marfan Foundation
Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science
Photos Courtesy of:
Wikimedia Commons
SmackAMack: Richard Burton
Progressive Pulse Blog: Ryan White
