Music and hemophilia

Music: Something That Outlives It All

Laurie Kelley February 22, 2026

I’ve always loved music. I was raised with classical, took piano lessons for years and later discovered rock (the best years, 70s!), then Disco in college (I was a Disco Queen!), then Disney Tunes when I raised children, then David Bowie, Queen, Metallica, Disturbed and back to the basics: The Who, Stones, Doors, and threw in some fun stadium rock like AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses.

I love to know about musicians in our hemophilia community, of which there are quite a few! But one is right in our neck of the country. Francis Beaudoin contacted me to donate factor, and somehow we chatted about music. He lives here in New England; in fact, his mother was once president of the New England Hemophilia Association.

Then he sent me links to some of his songs. I was drawn in by the lyrics: they are powerful, clear, and so heartfelt. There are songs about overcoming hemophilia, but also about the political landscape today. Such talent, both in songwriting and in lyrics. He writes from what he knows: pain, limitations, learning to treasure the important things, and overcoming heardship. With his permission, I wanted to share his work with our community.

Francis writes: “I was born with severe hemophilia, and it has shaped the course of my life in ways both visible and invisible. There were many limitations placed on what I could do physically and professionally. I was not able to build financial wealth to leave behind for my family. But I realized I could leave something else. I could leave this archive [of music].

“This collection exists as a legacy for my wife and my children. It is something they can return to long after I am gone. It is a record of my thoughts, my emotions, my struggles, and my strength. It is a way for them to know who I was, not just through memory, but through my own words.

“If someone reads or listens to this archive decades from now, I hope they feel something real. I hope it reminds them of their own life. I hope they see that even though I lived with disability, and even though I faced many emotional and physical challenges, I endured. I adapted. I continued forward.

“I was not a quitter. This archive is proof of that.

“It is also a reminder to myself and to anyone who encounters it: never deny who you are, and always strive to become better than you were yesterday. God had faith in me. Because of that, I learned to have faith in myself.”

Like his lyrics, which can reflect gentle emotions that run deep, his music too can start soft, with a guitar and excellent singer, but swell louder and more powerful as drums and other instruments join in. This is music to connect to, through shared experiences in hemophilia, but also through feelings that we all have in this time of uncertainty in the United States. With that, the song I really love is “Unity: We All Belong.”

Please check out Francis’s songs, listen to them, see what speaks to you, and which songs you feel most connected to. There is always an element of hope and overcoming in them, like the lyrics here from the song “Anatomy”:

I am more than bone and fracture,

More than time’s slow capture,

Cells may fade and parts may fall,

But something in me outlives it all.

Francis’s music will certainly live on, as all music does.

Check out Francis’s music on YouTube:

You can search for Francis Beaudoin’s music on Apple Music, iHeart Radio, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube Music.

Good Vibrations, Blood Vibrations!

Laurie Kelley September 30, 2013

Kudos to some young people with hemophilia with great ideas. Billy Conde Goldman and Matt Tache have recently announced “Blood Vibrations.”  This is an ongoing music project created by people in the bleeding disorders community.

In their own words: “The goal of the project is to provide a forum for creativity, expression and sharing. Anyone with a bleeding disorder (boys and girls, men and women) is welcomed to participate.  We encourage collaborations and group works. Proceeds from the project will be donated to the bleeding disorders community.  Pay it forward.”

They write that this project is run and funded by the community, for the community.  There is no affiliation with or funding from any private or public organization or company.

Aspiring musicians with bleeding disorders, Billy and Matt look forward to your involvement!

Direct any and all inquiries to Billy Conde Goldman or Matt Tache at
bloodvibrations@yahoo.com.
And check out their website at   http://bloodvibrations.wordpress.com/

One good things about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. Bob Marley

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. Maya Angelou

The “Bloody” Ring Tone

Laurie Kelley February 4, 2008

I’ve rediscovered ring tones. It happened last weekend at Kerry Fatula’s. She’s a fellow mom of a child with hemophilia. While chatting in the kitchen we heard a ring tone and everyone went silent, wondering whose cell phone it was. It was the dinosaur in “Jurassic Park III” (on TV), you know, the one who swallowed the cell phone and then… well, if you know the movie you will know the outcome. We all acknowledged that has to be the most famous ring tone in history.

Kerry and I thought it would be funny if she and I had our own ring tone. I’ve been using the odd little pings and rings provided by Apple, which are kind of lame. When I use them, I can hear a distinctive noise come on and know immediately who I do not want to answer. (Kerry is not one of those.)

So I though it would be fun if I selected ring tones for hemophilia situations. I logged on to iTunes and typed in “bleed.” Popular name for songs, apparently.

“Bleed“–Anna Nalick, Col, Puddle of Mud, Action Action, Angel Dust, Blitz, Collective Soul, Dear Leader, The Fade, Fat Jon and Styrofoam, Gary Numan, Floatsam and Jetsam, Further Seems Forever, Godhead, Ill Repute, Intuition, Joel Rush, Justin Manning, Matter, Michael Lord, NLX, No Man, Neil Zaza, Oxymoron, Shiloh, Sinch, Seize the Day, Scar’d Sanity, Sentenced, Smoke of Oldum, Soulfly, Vixen, Wumpscut. I am not making up these band names. I couldn’t be that creative.

There’s something for everyone, which is good because many of the songs are heavy metal and the lyrics aren’t so nice–apparently when they say “bleed” they are not referring to their own blood. But if these don’t strike your fancy, try these:

“Bleed it Out” –by Linkin Park
This is what happens when you don’t infuse fast enough.

“Bleed Alone”–Haste the Day
A good ring tone for all the single guys with hemophilia.

“Bleed and Blister”–Moneen
A ring tone for when you wear shoes that are too big.

“Bleed Black”–AFI
A ring tone for when you have an upper GI bleed?

“Bleed Forever”–Super Furry Animals
A ring tone for while we wait for a cure.

“Bleed from Within”— The Music
A ring tone for those prone to joint bleeds.

“Bleed Me an Ocean”— Acid Bath
A ring tone for when you forget your factor.

“Bleed Together”— Lovedrug
A ring tone for hemophilia camp!

“Bleed, Everyone’s Doing It”— Spill Canvas
Could be the ring tone theme song for all with hemophilia?

“Born to Bleed”— Dirty Sweet
A ring tone for those who inherited their hemophilia.

“Brother Bleed Brother”— Finch
A ring tone for your sibling.

“Let it Bleed”— The Rolling Stones
Not good advice, but you can’t get it in a ring tone anyway.

“Let it Bleed Again”— God or Julie
Still not good advice, which we don’t want to be reminded of in a ring tone.

“As I Bleed“– Bipolar
A ring tone for an infusion.

“Please Bleed”— Ben Harper and the Innocents
A ring tone for when you want to stay home from school.

“Punch Me I Bleed”— Children of Bodom
A ring tone for those who don’t have lifetime caps.

“Bloody Nose”— Earlimart
A ring tone for when you say the above to someone.

“Bleeding”— Ignite, Prom Kings, Todd Rundgren, Sixpence None the Richer, Five Finger Death Punch, Delerium, Sprung Monkey, Tiger Lillies [very weird], One King Down, Jacksom Rohm, Venom, Raindancer, Cord, Raunchy
A ring tone for when you first get diagnosed.

“Done Bleeding”— Sebastian Bach
A ring tone for those on prophy?

“Bloody Reunion”— Molly Hatchet
At last, a ring tone theme song for NHF meetings

“Through His Blood”— Bloody Sunday
A ring tone for grandchildren of those with hemophilia

“Only Women Bleed”— Alice Cooper
A ring tone for those, of course, who have VWD

“Bleeding”— F5
A ring tone for those with Owren’s disease (factor V deficiency)?

And my favorite… “You’re Bleeding” by NOFX, as in no factor X?

And what would I choose as a mother of someone with hemophilia? How about Slipknot? Yes, Slipknot. Those weird, carnival-faced, mutant KISS-like boys who like to scream. The song?

“Wait and Bleed.” Yikes.

Great Book I am Reading: Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce, by Douglas Starr. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone involved in the hemophilia community. I don’t know why I have waited this long to read it. Starr reveals the history of blood, as a source of fear and magical beliefs, and eventually blood as a commodity. In the latter half, the book focuses intensely on our community and the contamination of 10,000 of our own. At 400+ pages I will be reading this for a while, but it is already four stars out of four.

HemaBlog Archives
Categories