NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Of all the stages he could play, newcomer country musician Trevor Martin will tell fans it's hard to beat a show in front of a hometown crowd.
"This is Bowling Green, Kentucky," he smiled, just before taking the stage. "It's my hometown. This is a very special place for me. My grandmother used to take me out to these things, and here I am playing it."
It was in Bowling Green that Trevor made his plans to be a Nashville recording artist. But Trevor's first trip to Music City was very frightening.
At two days old, Trevor wouldn't stop bleeding. He had to be flown to Nashville.
"My parents probably thought they were going to lose me at two days old," he said. "It was there the doctor said, 'he has hemophilia.'"
Hemophilia is rare enough that growing up in his hometown, Trevor wasn't likely to know many other people there who had it.
"Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder," he said. "It's where my blood does not clot. A scratch or paper cut — for me, as a hemophilia — I would not stop bleeding."
The CDC said the exact number of people living with hemophilia isn't known, but it's far more common in males. As many as 33,000 males in the United States live with it. About 400 babies are born with hemophilia each year.
"It definitely shaped me growing up," Trevor said. "I couldn't play football my high school years."
Those obstacles led Trevor to channel his ambitions into music.
Today, taking a medicine for his disorder and having his music go viral on TikTok, Trevor wants to take this new platform to raise awareness for hemophilia.
"Having hemophilia is something I don't hide," he said. "I wouldn't change a single thing about having hemophilia, but it's something not everybody would know when they look up on the stage and see a guy who's living out his dream, living out his career. There's going to be adversity in our lives. Some are more difficult or physical than others. Being able to take the cards you're dealt and move forward with it, that's what I hope people take from this."
