Ambassador Spotlight: Farah Pavri’s Journey from Sibling to Advocate

Save One Life is proud to welcome Tamarrow Mitchell to our Ambassador team. He has hemophilia as do two of his eight siblings. Early in life, he hid his diagnosis because it made him feel different from his peers, but over time, he learned how to embrace it and wanted to use his experiences to inspire and empower others. Tamarrow’s passion for helping people led him on humanitarian trips to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Zambia, where he taught sustainable living practices. His dedication to service earned him the Hemophilia Federation of America’s Community Service Award, but it was an experience in Zambia that had an even greater impact on
him.

While playing soccer, he injured his ankle, which resulted in a bleed. Fortunately, he had brought his medication from the US and was able to treat himself immediately. The incident made him realize how difficult it would have been to access treatment in that setting and deepened his awareness of the challenges faced by people with bleeding disorders in under-resourced countries. Determined to make a difference, he vowed to use his experiences to help others and found a way to meld his musical talent with his desire to serve.

As a talented musician, songwriter, and singer, he composed songs in hopes that others could use self-expression to relieve the mental and physical pain they are experiencing. Many of his songs can be found on popular streaming platforms and one of them won a
Clio Music Award.

As a Save One Life Ambassador, Tamarrow encourages everyone to discover what drives them, to believe in themselves, and never give up. Armed with a degree in music performance and a heart for service, he is poised to make a lasting impact on our community and beyond.

At Save One Life, we are proud to work alongside volunteer ambassadors like Eliza VanZweden, whose lived experience with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia fuels her passion for advocacy and support for others in the bleeding disorders community. Through her leadership, compassion, and willingness to share her story, Eliza is helping women and girls around the world feel seen, connected, and empowered to use their voices.

Eliza VanZweden understands firsthand the challenges that can come with living with a rare bleeding disorder. Shortly after birth, she was diagnosed with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia. Although her siblings had the same medical condition, she largely felt different from her peers. Childhood experiences such as being self conscious of visible bruises, missing class due to bleeding episodes, and being unable to participate in many typical kids’ activities tended to reinforce this narrative. 

Additionally, given the fact that treatment for bleeding episodes involved lengthy trips to the emergency room for a platelet transfusion or an infusion of Factor VII medication, she was very cautious, which furthered her isolation.

However, things began to change for Eliza when she met another person with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia at a conference in her teens. For the first time, she felt she belonged and embraced the power of community.

She became an active advocate in the Hemophilia Foundation of Michigan, was later selected for the National Bleeding Disorder Foundation’s Youth and Leadership Institute Program, and was awarded the Susan Skinner Memorial Fund Scholarship of the World Federation of Hemophilia.

Through her international travel, she became aware of the enormous challenges women with a bleeding disorder face on a daily basis. In 2025, she agreed to serve as an Ambassador for Save One Life to help identify and support women and girls in this community. It is her hope that sharing her story and lending her
encouragement, others living with rare disorders will use their voices, advocate for their needs, and recognize the healing power of being seen and supported.

Empowering the next chapter of global support for individuals with bleeding disorders

Save One Life is proud to announce the election of Michelle Kim as the new President of the Board of Directors. A longstanding advocate and leader in the rare disease and bleeding disorders communities, Michelle brings a wealth of experience, passion, and vision to guide the organization into its next phase of growth and impact.

Michelle officially joins the Board following years of distinguished service in the nonprofit and healthcare advocacy sectors. Most notably, she served as Executive Director of the Hemophilia Foundation of Southern California from 2015 to 2022, where she launched more than ten innovative programs, including leadership initiatives for youth. Her leadership earned her the title of Businesswoman of the Year for Non-Profits in 2019 by her State Senator.

Throughout her career, Michelle has been a tireless champion for underserved communities. She co-founded Familia de Sangre, now the largest Spanish-speaking conference dedicated to bleeding disorders, and developed critical legal resources for patients and families navigating school advocacy, special needs trusts, and immigration challenges.

Michelle is also a published advocate for patient-centered care. She co-authored the article, “Lived experience experts: A name created by us for us,” which calls for deeper inclusion of patient and caregiver voices in research and policy-making. She was nominated and approved by the White House as the only patient advocate member of the ACBTSA (Advisory Committee for Blood and Tissue Safety) reporting to the HHS (recently defunded). 

Her advocacy is deeply personal. For over 20 years, Michelle cared for her daughter, who lived with five rare diseases until her passing in March 2024. This lived experience continues to shape her commitment to improving the lives of families facing similar challenges.

Michelle resides in Southern California with her husband and two sons, one of whom has severe hemophilia A. In her personal time, she enjoys pickleball, fishing, and traveling.

In taking on this new role Michelle shared, “Over the past decade, treatment for bleeding disorders has advanced tremendously. Yet despite this progress, a majority of people around the world still have little to no access to life-saving medications. It is my sincere hope that our community will come together to make a meaningful impact in the lives of those less fortunate. I am truly excited to partner with Cindy and her phenomenal team, whose vision and dedication will help drive this important work forward.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Michelle as our new Board President,” said Cindy Komar, Executive Director of Save One Life. “Her leadership, compassion, and lived experience bring extraordinary strength to help advance our mission and deepen our global impact.”

Save One Life extends its deepest gratitude to its supporters and community members for their continued commitment. With Michelle’s leadership, the organization looks forward to an inspiring new chapter – continuing to change lives, one life at a time.

My Trip to Ukraine

By Tony Hernandez

In early October I went to Europe. More specifically, I went on a dual humanitarian mission focused on helping the people of Ukraine.The first and most important part was being an escort for a great-grandmother to honor her fallen US Marine son who died near the Russo-Ukrainian War frontlines. The second part was to help people with hemophilia, von Willebrand Disease (vWD), and other bleeding disorders.

The grandmother I was escorting is a coworker of mine, Sochi. Her son, USMC Ian Tortorici, was killed Jun 27, 2023 when a short-range ballistic missile hit where he was having dinner. 

In the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, there is a monument called The Maiden. Outside The Maiden is an organic memorial. Literally thousands upon thousands of flags and photographs of the fallen. We visited Ian’s makeshift memorial there. We also visited his church where he prayed and worshiped since he converted to the Ukrainian Church and there’s a picture of him along with the other hundreds of dead parishioners. Finally, we visited his memorial at the WW2 Museum. Not only did we honor Ian, we also attended the American funeral of a 22-year-old U.S National Guardsmen. 

The second reason I was there was to help the bleeding disorders community. We reached out to the Ukrainian Association for Haemophilia and Haemostasis and they introduced me to my fellow blood brothers and sisters. But that wasn’t all. Sochi and I brought along some factor medication to donate to the people of Ukraine. This was done through the amazing work of Save One Life.

Save One Life provided so much factor that, my carryon was nothing but factor and my toothbrush. Seriously. The factor was then distributed to three different families in three different regions of Ukraine. One such factor delivery was sent to a young man who was recovering from surgery. Had it not been for the generous donation from Save One Life, that young man may not have been here with us today. I have no words.

To clarify one thing, Save One Life has official partners around the world. Right now, Ukraine is not one of them because before the war, access to treatment and medication was largely available. However, as a consequence of the war, medication has become more scarce. 

Save One Life could have easily said, “Ukraine is not an official partner at this time. So we cannot help.” Totally acceptable and understandable. Instead, Save One Life did help and tremendously so. Save One Life literally helped change and better the financial situation of a nation under invasion for at least three months if not more. Think about that. Save One Life’s donation helped ease the massive burden of helping those with life threatening illnesses. Their donation helped defray medical costs across an entire nation’s medical system. Their donation helped Ukrainian medical staff focus more attention on the wounded.

In short, Save One Life has saved several lives and helped ease the burden of those under attack in Ukraine, all because people donated their unneeded medication to them. They didn’t just help, they helped change the world into a better place. 

I close by saying thank-you to Save One Life, but that feels terribly inadequate. There just aren’t enough words in the English language to truly explain the Earth shaking good work that Save One Life does for the bleeding disorders community. The impact was clear on our blood brothers and sisters trying to navigate during these challenging times.