Everyday Heroes: Juan Ramón Olmos Sánchez

Making His Own News

At 23, Juan Ramón Olmos Sánchez has already honed his journalistic skills on radio and in the newspaper business. The native of Granada, Spain, established his reporting credentials while earning not just one but two degrees at the same time. He could easily be forgiven for dedicating himself exclusively to fulfillment of an incredibly promising career. Yet, motivated by a deeply personal awareness of the struggles faced by previous generations of hemophilia sufferers, he is using his gift for communications for an additional purpose: to help create a new generation of advocates.

Blessed with a remarkable work ethic, Olmos Sánchez has allied a fascination with politics to a love of journalism. His desire to make a difference in the world was ignited by the tide of opposition in Spain to the Iraq War in 2003; that same year he signed up for a degree in politics at the University of Granada.

He wanted not just to understand the world, however, but to write about it, and two years later he enrolled in a journalism degree program at the University of Wales.

Applying himself to two degrees simultaneously was demanding. "It was hard work," he says. "In the first year I was studying for one degree in the morning and the other in the afternoon."

He excelled on both counts, however, and graduated with two bachelor's degrees earlier this year.

Learning the Ropes

While at university he took his first steps into the world of professional journalism, writing online stories and reporting for a local radio station. He was soon sent on ‘man-on-the-street' interviews – dreaded assignments even for experienced broadcasters.

"I was very shy, and I had to walk the street conducting random interviews," says Olmos Sánchez. "But it gave me confidence, asking people about subjects ranging from their views on abortion to their sports favorites."

The experience eventually helped him capture what for many is the ultimate job: sports reporter. Writing for Granada Hoy, one of the region's leading newspapers, Olmos Sánchez interviewed some of Spain's top athletes and covered his favorite soccer and basketball teams.

"I could interview my idols and meet the most important people in sports in Granada," he says. "It was a dream."

His work at Granada Hoy would ultimately lead him, in July 2009, to an even more influential position: Web editor for the largest newspaper in Granada, IDEAL. Olmos Sánchez notes that his new job is particularly rewarding because it allows him to indulge his other passions: he is assigned local politics stories, and even gets to pen movie reviews.

Asked what he hopes to focus on in the future—sports, politics or culture—he has a simple answer: "I just want to write."

The Advocate

Earning two degrees and building a career left Olmos Sánchez with time for little else. Now, however, he is embracing a new vocation, that of hemophilia advocate.

In May 2007, Olmos Sánchez's regional hemophilia organization sent him a letter about Step Up Reach Out, a global leadership program for young men with hemophilia. He applied to join and was accepted, attending his first conference later that year in San Francisco.

The meeting opened his eyes, he says, to the universality of the challenges that confront people with the condition. "There were people from England, New Zealand, mainland Europe—we all had a different culture, different education, but we all had the same problems," he says.

He was also moved by stories he heard at the meeting of previous generations of people who have thrived with hemophilia despite, in many cases, not having access to even the most basic treatment – people like his own grandfather, a pet shop owner who had hemophilia A and who maintained a permanent smile in the face of constant pain.

His takeaway from the meeting?

"We have no excuse."

Olmos Sánchez is now dedicated to inspiring young men with hemophilia to take a more active role in their community. "Too often, they try to get hemophilia out of their lives, to live as if they don't have it," he observes. "Let's live with it and be proud of it, and try to solve problems together."

He sees the impact of this lack of engagement in Granada, where he is a sub-delegate for his regional hemophilia association.

"The biggest problem we have is that the people who lead the association are getting old and there is no one behind them," he says.

His solution to the problem is action: "If you move, someone else will be inspired to move."

Putting words into practice, he represents his regional hemophilia organization in meetings with other groups and municipal authorities, and spends time talking to parents who have children with hemophilia.

Ultimately, Olmos Sánchez is striving to build his local hemophilia community because only it can give people who wrestle with the condition the support they need. "You feel like people don't understand you," he says, "but someone with hemophilia understands you best."

Granada's hemophilia community, it seems, has found an articulate new voice.