Hemophilia is nothing to laugh at. But if you are Patrick James Lynch, a young man with factor VIII deficiency, you can sure try.

For the past 18 months, Patrick has been creating a pilot series to bring humor and education to patients and families with hemophilia. Only 27, he’s currently executive producer at Believe Digital (believedigi.com) and has a list of accomplishments as an actor, writer, and producer. He lives  in Brooklyn, New York. You can read more about
him on his web page.

So check out Stop the Bleeding! (STB!) 

I had a chance to meet Patrick at our insurance symposium Pulse on the Road in Albany earlier this year, and was intrigued by his marrying
humor and hemophilia. The first to do this? Nope. That credit goes to the affable and lovable Brian Kraft, a stand-up comedian who had
wickedly funny routines about having hemophilia. Sadly, Brian succumbed to co-infections many years ago. Until his passing, we’ve been rather…
serious about hemophilia.

You can subscribe to Patrick’s YouTube channel. Already, in the first 30 days, STB! has had  178,108 minutes watched on YouTube,  97,000+ views
on Facebook, and 1,000+ likes, shares, and comments.

These first videos were sponsored through an unrestricted grant from Baxter.  Patrick is currently seeking grants and charitable donations from a variety of sources for additional videos this year. We wish him luck! And keep the laughs coming.

Anyone else think Patrick looks a little like James Franco? Not a bad thing. Maybe he will host the Oscars one day…

Great Book I Just Read

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo

The riveting and tragic story of one of the great disasters in Boston
history. Sad timing reading this, coming after the new Boston massacre
just two weeks ago.  Puleo does a superb job of building a suspenseful
story of a disaster that only lasted minutes, but changed the politics
and policies of Massachusetts, and the country’s building codes,
forever. Molasses at one time was a thriving economic commodity,
contributing to the slave trade in the south and the national war
machine to fight a rising Germany. United States Industrial Alcohol
(USIA) was the epitome of a corporation pushing profits to the extreme,
and cutting corners to get there. In the crowded North End, home to poor
Italian immigrants and apparently “anarchists” trying to sabotage big
business and keep the US out of the war, USIA placed a 2.5 million
gallon vat for molasses. When disasters struck on January 15, 1919,
snuffing out the lives of 20 people who suffocated under the wave of
molasses, the largest civil lawsuit in MA history was launched to
determine the cause. You will learn an astonishing amount of history,
economics, politics and engineering, all interwoven, in this gem of a
book. Kudos to Puleo; extremely engaging and well written book, and most
Bostonians have never even heard of this amazing event, and need to.
Five/five stars.