Donald E. Colburn

Don was such an inspiration and force within the hemophilia community. He will be sorely missed. I personally learned so much from Don and could always depend on him. My condolences to his family and all who knew him.

God Bless

Don was an inspiration and guiding force for so many of us in our global family. His quiet leadership brought clarity to many difficult situations. He never stopped advocating and fighting for future generations. I had the privilege of working with him on a number of projects ranging from the quest for a cure to improving the safety of the treatment products we use today. He consistently went above and beyond. While we will all be grateful to him for his financial support of the...

I have tried for a week to put my feelings for Don into words. The best I can do is use the word KIND.
He spread his kindness thru out the hemophilia community in so many ways. As our community brought attention to other bleeding disorders, he was there to give a hug, an observation or a helping hand to anyone in need. By his love and committment to our community, he mentored so many grow. Yet, he never sought recognition for his good deeds.

I doubt that Donald is taking a...

This was truly a great loss to the hemophilia community. I first met Don in 1978 when I came to Worchester for the nurse coordinator workshop that was coordinated by Peter Levine's center. Don was the President of the New England NHF Chapter at the time and I was blown away as a new HTC nurse by the depth of his knowledge not only of his disorder but of the community and how it worked. He was known then as the angy young man from New England! Later our relationship blossomed as we...

I met Don twenty years ago when I began working at the Mary M. Gooley Hemophilia Center in Rochester. All tributes to his caring, energy, and commitment are seconded. But my favorite memory will always be of his razzing me at every opportunity over the ridiculous number of goals and objectives in the NHF long range plan produced by a committee I chaired. Don chaired the next such committee, and delighted in taunting me that his plan would not only be better, but shorter! I will always...

For the many years I have known Don, I have admired his intelligence, his knowledge, his vision and especially his commitment and generosity toward the hemophilia community. I will never forget how he enthusiastically introduced me to the book “And the Band played on” when it came out in the 1980’s. His passing is a great loss and he will be missed by many. I extend my sincere condolences to his family.

My entry into this guest book is late because I have been away since right after Don passed away. I certainly with the comments already written about Don. I, too, have known Don for many years, all of them related to our mutual involvement in NHF. While at times contentious, Don always had his focus on improving the world for those with bleeding disorders. One knew to take Don's input seriously. You woud always get a straight answer from Don. And you also knew that if Don said he would do...

My love and prayers to Don's family and his many friends. I was blessed to meet him many years ago at a NHF conference...he was one of many my son introduced me to and after that we always had a chat when at the same meetings. Ray's Mom, Barbara