Arden Hills 1st grader creates comic book to educate other about genetic disorder

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (FOX 9) - Six-year-old Emmett Cordes enjoys getting what's in his head down on paper. But now he's drawing on his experience to help educate others about what is going on in his body.

"I love it. I love it. He's taking ownership of his health and of his treatment plan and he wanted to be able to explain it to other people," said Emmett's mom, Melissa Cordes. 

Emmett was diagnosed with Hemophilia A a couple of years ago after he came home from school complaining of knee pain.

It turned out he had a long-term bleed caused by a deficiency of a blood clotting protein called Factor 8.

He couldn't get around without a walker or wheelchair for 2 months and had to have physical therapy to rebuild his strength.

"The way he usually describes it is that it's just normal. Everything's normal. He can do everything a normal kid can. It's just that if he gets hurt, it might be an emergency," said Melissa.

A few months ago, Emmett decided to make his own comic book about the rare genetic disorder.

In it, a river of blood is heading towards Hemophliatown and the superhero Factor 8 is missing.

So another superhero named Hemlibra, after the medicine that replaces the missing Factor 8 in Emmett's body, swoops in to save the day.

"He was in kindergarten when he wrote it, and he did take it to school and shared it with his teacher and his classmates. He was also really excited to take it to the hospital and show his care team that he understands how it works for him," said Melissa.

Emmett wants to work for NASA one day to build rockets for astronauts.

In the meantime, he hopes his comic can be given to other kids with hemophilia so they understand what's going on in their bodies too.

"It gets published and hardcovers, and it makes it into a normal book that people read," said Emmett.