Invest in a Child’s Future: How Save One Life Began (with Founder Laurie Kelley)

In the very first episode of Where Hope Begins: The Save One Life Podcast, host Kai Sorensen sits down with Laurie Kelley—author, advocate, and the founder of Save One Life—to trace the origin story behind a question that changed everything: Could one family help another, across borders? 

Laurie shares the personal moments that shaped her purpose—from raising a child with hemophilia to witnessing the realities of global poverty and untreated bleeding disorders firsthand. Together, they unpack why Save One Life is built not just on medicine, but on dignity, education, and opportunity—because when a child is supported, the impact can ripple through generations. 

What You’ll Learn: 

• How Laurie’s experience as a mother of a child with hemophilia sparked a lifetime of advocacy—and led to global impact 
• Why the “HIV era” shaped the bleeding disorders community and influenced gaps in support for new families 
• What Laurie learned by going into families’ homes—and why listening to patients is the true foundation of meaningful aid 
• The real-world barriers families face in developing countries: transportation, lost wages, school disruption, and daily survival 
• What child sponsorship actually provides—and why it’s often about food, school, and stability as much as medical access 
• Why Laurie encourages sponsors to think of giving as an investment in a child’s future, not charity 

Episode Highlights: 

• 00:00 – Kai opens the series with the guiding question: Could one family help another, across borders? 
• 00:52 – Laurie shares the “confluence of events” that led to Save One Life: motherhood, Rwanda, and being invited into global advocacy work 
• 02:15 – A look back at the hemophilia community during the HIV crisis—and why new families felt overlooked 
• 03:19 – The story behind Raising a Child with Hemophilia and the shift from “patient” to consumer + advocate 
• 05:08 – What Laurie saw in developing countries: different kinds of poverty, and what families must sacrifice just to access care 
• 07:55 – Why Save One Life sponsorship isn’t only about factor—it's about education, food, transportation, and dignity 
• 10:18 – The essential role of trusted program partners on the ground—and why impact depends on local leadership 
• 11:07 – After 25 years, Laurie reflects on gratitude, the work still ahead, and the people who make it possible 
• 12:18 – The invitation to listeners: visit the website, meet children waiting for sponsorship, and consider giving as an investment 

Meet the Guest: 

Laurie Kelley is a successful author, businesswoman, and humanitarian who has served the bleeding disorders community since 1989. She is the president of LA Kelley Communications, Inc., publisher of groundbreaking educational resources for families with bleeding disorders, and the founder of Save One Life. 

Laurie is the author of eleven books on hemophilia, including Raising a Child with Hemophilia (1990), the first parenting book on the condition. She also co-authored the first books on von Willebrand disease and inhibitors, published the Parent Empowerment Newsletter for 31 years, and continues to publish the weekly HemaBlog®—with many resources available free of charge. 

After witnessing severe need during trips to developing countries between 1996 and 2000, Laurie founded Save One Life in 2000. She later launched Project SHARE in 2002, which has distributed more than 155 million IU of lifesaving clotting factor to patients across 77+ developing countries. 

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned: 

• “Consumer” mindset over “patient” mindset: empowering families to ask questions, learn the system, and advocate confidently 
• Needs-first program design: listening to patients, asking questions, and building support based on real lived experience 
• Home visits as a truth-finding tool: understanding day-to-day realities beyond clinics and meetings 
• Sponsorship as investment: reframing giving as long-term support for education, dignity, and self-sustainability 
• Local partnership model: program partners as the essential backbone for delivery, trust, and accountability 

Resource Links: 

• Sponsor a Child: https://saveonelife.net/sponsorship 
• Save One Life Website: https://saveonelife.net/ 
• Produced in partnership with Balancing Life's Issues: https://balancinglifesissues.com/podcast-bli/ 

In honor of Save One Life’s 25th anniversary, Where Hope Begins shares the remarkable story of how a simple act of compassion grew into a global lifeline for individuals and families living with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders. 

What began with a single question — could one family help another, across borders? — has become a movement built on dignity, opportunity, and hope.