Sarah Ford | March 10, 2014

Growing Hope for Sickle Cell Disease Patients

Source: The Washington Post

By Laura Hambleton

Growing Hope for Sickle Cell Disease PatientsSickle cell disease is one of the most common inherited blood disorders, mostly found in people of African, Hispanic, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent and affecting about 100,000 Americans. For the disease to emerge, it must be passed down by both parents. The syndrome causes normal, oval-shaped red blood cells to lose oxygen and collapse into sickle shapes. These mutated cells do not flow smoothly and can get lodged in veins, causing excruciating pain, anemia, severe fatigue, respiratory distress and eventually organ failure and early death.

A 1973 study put the average life expectancy after diagnosis, which usually occurred in childhood, at around 14 years. But researchers say that today many people with the disease can live far longer due to early treatment with antibiotics, better pain management and especially the use of hydroxyurea.

Bone marrow treatments

There is a cure for sickle cell — in some cases — but it is risky and can require a lifetime of continued medicine. That cure is a bone marrow transplant.

Only about 500 such transplants have been done around the country, 40 of them at the National Institutes of Health, and all but a few involving children. Children’s National Medical Center will perform 12 to 15 this year, according to Meier.

“But there are risks,” she said. “We can have graft-versus-host disease with new bone marrow. Sickle cell patients have a higher risk of complicating stroke, seizures early in transplant, and they are always at high risk for bleedings, infection. Transplants are not an easy cure.”

>> Continue Reading

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get Resources and Insights Straight To Your Inbox

Explore More Articles

Minority Mental Health Awareness Month

July 18, 2025

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about the unique mental health challenges faced by minority communities. It’s an…

Read Article

International Self Care Day

July 18, 2025

Today, July 24, 2025, we celebrate International Self Care Day, a day dedicated to promoting self-care practices and their numerous benefits for physical, mental, and…

Read Article
How the “Big Beautiful Bill” Will Impact Individual Giving and Employer-Sponsored Workplace Giving Programs

How the “Big Beautiful Bill” Will Impact Individual Giving and Employer-Sponsored Workplace Giving Programs

July 14, 2025

The One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law on July 4, 2025, introducing a range of provisions that will affect how individuals, companies, and…

Read Article

Get Resources and Insights Straight To Your Inbox

Receive our monthly/bi-monthly newsletter filled with information about causes, nonprofit impact, and topics important for corporate social responsibility and employee engagement professionals, including disaster response, workplace giving, matching gifts, employee assistance funds, volunteering, scholarship award program management, grantmaking, and other philanthropic initiatives.

newsletter-mock