CINCINNATI — Celebrating her birthday, Brynn Schulte looks like any other 3-year-old — full of energy, playing with her friends and her big brothers. But the Pleasure Ridge girl isn't like everyone else — she's one in 5 million.
Schulte is missing Factor XIII in her blood, which helps coagulate it. Her blood disorder is the rarest of them all.
Shortly after she was born, Brynn was unresponsive. She was bleeding internally.
"Brynn was gray," dad Mike Schulte said. "Basically, not responsive. They raced her over to Children's in the middle of the night."
From that moment on, they've been on an odyssey. First, they had to find out what was wrong with Schulte.
"None of the specialists up there who are the top elite, best physicians in the world had never even seen this case," mom Lindsay said.
Once diagnosed, the Schulte family knew their lives would never be the same. So that she can live, they have to inject their daughter every other day with Factor XIII. They also made a decision in that moment to find a way to give back.
So every year, on Brynn's birthday, they hold Brynn's Birthday Blood Drive.
Outside their home, two blood drive mobile trucks have a line of donors waiting for their turn to give. Meanwhile, Brynn runs and plays.
"Be careful!" her mother shouts occasionally.
They know they can't stop a 3-year-old from having fun at her own birthday party, no matter her health.
"We can't live our lives in fear or put her in a bubble," Lindsay Schulte said. "You know, she's got a life to live."
The family's goal is to keep doing blood drives for the rest of Schulte's life.
Helen Lamping, associate director of the TriState Bleeding Disorder Foundation, said what the Schultes are doing for the community is tremendous.
"They're a very inspiring family," Lamping said. "I think to go through the hardships that they go through to face what they face on a daily basis. And then their first instinct is to give back to the community is just so wonderful."
Lindsay Schulte said knows her daughter can only survive if she gets blood Factor XIII multiple times a week, and she said she wants anyone who considers donating blood to think of kids like little Brynn.
"Your donation truly does make a difference," she said. "And she's a prime example."
Though their blood drive is over, the Schultes said anyone who wants to donate blood at Hoxworth can give at any time during the year in Brynn's name. Just use the code "BBB" for Brynn's Birthday Blood Drive.
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