What is like to be a sickle cell anemia patient?

What is sickle cell disease? In SCD, the red blood cells have a tendency to go out of shape and become sickle-shaped (like a crescent moon) - instead of their normal disc shape. This can cause various problems - as described later. In between the episodes of illness, people with SCD feel well. read more

Being a Sickle Cell Anemia patient is being the equivalent of a cancer patient, but judged, undertreated, left in pain, crying for 6+ hours if you’re lucky. Or sent home because of a blood test instead of actually being listened to. read more

Current total NIH spending on sickle cell anemia research is around 75 million dollars. That may sound like a lot, but not compared to the billions spent on some other illnesses. Sickle cell is screaming loud but no one is listening. read more

Being a sickle cell patient is being in pain for days, up to weeks, and easily months for some. Being a sickle cell patient is crying in your room because not a soul around understands that it feels like your limbs are being hacked away by any power tool you can think of. read more

Sickle cell is never predictable. Of course this disease has impacted my life beyond words. I've learned to cope with it. Just to be clear, sickle cell is a genetic trait. Sickle cell disease is a severe illness that occurs in people who inherit the sickle cell gene from both parents. When I was a few months old, my pediatrician predicted that I would have my first sickle cell crisis at six months. She was right. read more