Living With Sickle Cell

14 years ago on this date, I gave birth to a handsome baby boy! Happy 14th birthday to my warm and loving son, Cori! As I celebrate Cori's birthday, I also celebrate his life! You see, Cori is one of the 70,000 Americans living with Sickle Cell Disease. Many people misunderstand the effects as well as the severity of this disease. In fact, there is still so much that I don't even understand.

What Is Sickle Cell?
To put it simply, Sickle Cell is an inherited disorder that affects the red blood cells. Key word here is inherited! Yes, just as we inherit traits such as hair and eye color from our parents, we also inherit sickle cell traits. The most common symptom of Sickle Cell Disease is the pain episodes, however, there are many other symptoms.

The Truth

• To clear up a few misconceptions about the disease, it is not a "Black" disease. According to the American Heart, Lunch and Blood Institute, Sickle Cell affects people from all over the world and many ethnicities.
• People living with the trait  are not widely known to experience the severe pain episodes. For the most part, people living with the trait,(like me) have no symptoms at all. In fact, many people with the trait, may not even be aware that they carry the trait, which is why it is important for EVERYONE to be tested for the trait prior to having children.
• Sickle Cell does not cause death. Like other disorders or diseases, it is possible for Sickle Cell to attack our main body organs, which could then lead to death. So, people may die from complications that sickle cell causes to the organs just as cancer or diabetes, etc.

Cori lives a very normal life. There are no obvious physical identifiers of the disease, so he doesn't "look" like he has a disorder. He can do most activities as his peers, except that he gets tired easy and he has to take precautions with activities such as swimming. He attends normal school and is expected to make good grades just as any other child. Most importantly, I don't make him feel different.

I am grateful to have such a loving young man in my life. I am most grateful that sickle cell does not define my son. He does not use it as a crutch. I give all praises to GOD for blessing me with this child! Happy Birthday Cori!

If you would like to know more about sickle cell disease, you can check out these sites or reach out to your local Sickle Cell Assocation.

http://www.sicklecelldisease.org/about_scd/index.phtml
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/default.htm
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Sca/SCA_WhoIsAtRisk.html