Be an African American Hero to a Child with Sickle Cell Disease
Through a one-of-a-kind program, the American Red Cross and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are improving care for children with sickle cell disease --- and we need your help!
Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease that affects more than 70,000 people in the United States, ninety percent of whom are of African descent.
According to Kim Smith-Whitley, MD, of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, sickle cell disease causes anemia; jaundice; damage to the lungs, kidney and spleen; acute pain; and strokes. Sickle cell disease patients, especially young children, may be easily overwhelmed by infections.
There is no cure for sickle cell disease, but good medical care, including blood transfusions, can help manage and prevent the pain and serious complications of the disease.
Blood Donors Are Heroes
Blood donors are the real heroes in this story because some patients with sickle cell disease need many units of blood every month! But if the blood is not a very close match, the patient may reject the blood and a source of help and hope will be gone. This condition, called alloimmunization, can be fatal.
The best matches for these patients will come from African American donors. African American donors who want to help can choose to give blood for a child with sickle cell disease by using a special blue tag available at all Red Cross blood drives and donor centers in the Greater Delaware Valley and New Jersey.
Thanks to African American blood donors, Dr. Whitley's patients at Children's Hospital are getting blood that is very closely matched and doing very well! Her hope is that enough blood donors will help to allow every child with sickle cell disease get the best care we can give them.
If you are African American, please share your good health with a child who has sickle cell disease by doing something simple, easy, and safe – by giving blood.
To find out more, call 1-800-GIVE LIFE. If you live outside of the Greater Delaware Valley, you can still help by being a blood donor. The more African Americans who give blood regularly in every community, the greater the likelihood that good matches will be found for patients with sickle cell disease.
Learn more about:
To learn more about donating blood in communities across the United States, call the American Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE LIFE.
For more information about sickle cell disease, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, or donating funds to support sickle cell disease patient care at Children's Hospital through the Coins from Glory project, call (215) 590-3423.
For more information about sickle cell disease, call the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. at (800) 421-8453.
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