Evan Workman barely flinches as his mom inserts a needle into the intravenous port in his chest. He watchesStar Wars on video and drinks his milk while he gets five vials of medicine.

Born with hemophilia, the 4 1/2-year-old is accustomed to needles, “pokes” he calls them, which he receives every other day to help keep him healthy.

The inherited blood-clotting disorder causes Evan to be deficient in a blood protein called factor VIII. He receives a synthetic substitute intravenously that prevents spontaneous bleeding and helps stop bleeding in the event of a cut or injury.

The treatments have become a normal part of life for Evan, and he takes them in stride.

But dealing with her son’s condition has been a struggle for his mom, Sara Workman.

“My daily life is affected by worry, but I’ve become accustomed to it,” said Workman, who spends her days caring for Evan and his 13-year-old brother, Noah, at their Lutz home.

Approximately one in 5,000 males is born with the disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Workman hadn’t found a lot of support locally in coping with its daily challenges. She had a hard time meeting other moms dealing with the issue in young children.

She became active in the Hemophilia Foundation of Greater Florida when Evan was about 7 months old. The foundation serves more than 5,000 people with bleeding disorders, providing financial support, education, scholarships and other services for patients and their families.

The foundation sponsors the annual Tampa Spring Walk for Bleeding Disorders, which is May 19 at Al Lopez Park, off Himes Avenue. About 400 people are expected to walk the park’s track to raise money in support of the foundation’s efforts.

“The primary purpose of the organization is to offer emergency financial assistance for people in need, such as for medical treatments or medicine,” said executive director Fran Haynes. “Hemophilia is a lifelong disorder. We do whatever we can to improve the quality of life for people with the disorder.”

As part of the larger National Hemophilia Foundation, the Florida foundation also helps fund ongoing research and advocacy efforts for the safety of the nation’s blood supply.

In the early 1980s, when the nation’s blood supply became contaminated with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, many people with hemophilia were infected through their treatments. The NHF lobbied for improved blood screening, testing and manufacturing practices.

“Because of the foundation, our blood supply is now the safest it’s ever been,” Haynes said, “not just for hemophilia patients, but for everyone.”

Workman has benefited from the efforts: “The foundation does a lot of great things for families,” she said.

On the outside, Evan seems much like any other kid. He spills his milk and toddles around with mismatched socks. He zooms around with his toy car.

But his case of hemophilia is severe. If he falls or hurts himself, he’s susceptible to internal bleeding that causes him to bruise and swell easily, possibly leading to severe joint damage or even death.

“The biggest difficulty is (the possibility of) joint bleeds, where he’d be incapable of movement, and head bleeds, where he could die,” Workman said.

Evan has experienced both. At 16 months, he suffered spontaneous bleeding in his head.

“He lost motor function one morning,” his mother said. “He couldn’t sit up, hold a cup, or hold his head up.”

She rushed him to the emergency room, where he was treated and, within 10 minutes, he perked up.

“I was told at the time that he was lucky to be alive,” Workman said.

“There’s a level of extra vigilance that has become normal to us,” she said. “He likes to climb on the back of the couch, and I tell him no, not because I care if he climbs on the couch but because he has a history of that head bleed, so we have to be extra cautious.”

Another time, Evan was playing outside and fell on the grass and hit his knee.

“Within 10 seconds, he was limping and couldn’t put pressure on it,” his mother said. The knee immediately swelled and bruised from an internal bleed.

Evan can’t hang on the monkey bars like other kids at his preschool, nor can he swing on the rope swing at his grandfather’s house. When he gets older, he won’t be able to play contact sports.

“The older he gets, the more severe his limitations will be,” Workman said. “There’s a lot of things that he associates as normal, but he gets frustrated at times at those limitations and precautions.”

Living with hemophilia is both emotionally taxing and financially draining on families. Evan’s father, Michael, works at Entegra Power Group, and has medical insurance that covers the cost of Evan’s regular treatments. Still, the family spent more than $7,000 last year on Evan’s medical bills for hospital stays and procedures.

“The cost of Evan’s medicine alone is $360,000 a year,” said Workman, who has learned a lot about dealing with her son’s disorder through the foundation’s educational symposiums. She has also found emotional support through the organization’s network of families.

“They’re always there if I have a question about potential bleeds or pain. They’re like family,” she said.

During next week’s walk, Evan, Noah, and their parents will walk as a team. Their name: “I’m Bruised not Broken.”

Elizabeth Miller can be reached at hillsnews@tampabay.com.

If you go

Tampa Spring Walk for Bleeding Disorders, sponsored by the Hemophilia Foundation of Greater Florida, is May 19 at Al Lopez Park, 4810 N Himes Ave., Tampa. Registration is $25 per team and begins at 8 a.m. The walk begins at 9 a.m. For registration or to make a donation, go to hemophiliaflorida.org.

Mothballed Tampa Bay area subdivision, 2012: A thaw in new home building may be under way. Photo: Bruce Moyer, Tampa Bay Times.

Wake up and good morning. So is the Tampa Bay and Florida housing market at a bottom and really ready to start improving? The crystal ball remains murky but there’s no lack of housing activity on both sides of the equation to ponder. For openers:

*  Homebuilder Newland Communities is taking the bet that demand for new housing is ready to rock by taking the mothballs of an Apollo Beach housing community called Waterset that could eventually offer up a whopping 6,700 new homes. As Newland senior vice president Rick Harcrowtold Tampa Bay Times real estate reporter Mark Puente this week: “I don’t know any build who isn’t bullish about the spring buying season in 2013.” The project will be one of the biggest in the country since the housing market crashed. Read more here.

* About 12 percent of all Florida homes with a mortgage were in some state of foreclosure in December, making the Sunshine State No. 1 nationwide with the highest foreclosure inventory. So says  a new report from CoreLogic. For the Tampa Bay market in December, CoreLogic says 17 percent of mortgages are 90 days or more overdue (versus 7.3 percent nationally) and 12 percent are already part of the area’s foreclosure inventory (versus just 3.4 percent nationally). Here are more details.

* The diminished but still hefty National Association of Home Builders show is under way this week in Orlando where housing economists are licking their wounds after last year incorrectly calling a bottom top the housing market. This week, economists like NAHB’s David Crowe were more cautious but still predict a 16 percent improvement this year in new home sales and single family starts. Read more from the Wall Street Journal, the AP and get some local convention flavor from the Orlando Sentinel.

* Last but not least, after many months of wrangling, Florida is expected to join a multi-state government agreement today or tomorrow with five major banks worth (depending on various news reports) as little as $25 billion or as much as $37 billion that would focus on banks’ foreclosure abuses and help homeowners whose mortgages are worth more than their homes. The deal would represent the largest government-industry settlement since a multi-state deal with the tobacco industry in 1998, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo Citibank and Ally Financial agreed to the settlement that would lower homeowners’ mortgage principals, refinancing, a reserve account and checks to homeowners. The banks have sought releases from legal liability and immunity from further investigations into the so-called robo-signing cases so rampant in recent years in Florida and elsewhere. Read more here, here and here.

So what’s this mishmash all mean? Progress, uneven though it seems, in moving forward for an industry that’s been in economic quicksand for years. Patience.

– Robert Trigaux, Business Columnist, Tampa Bay Times