ROANOKE, Va. – June 19th is World Sickle Cell Awareness Day. It’s observed annually to increase public knowledge and understanding of the disease and the challenges associated with it.
Sickle Cell is a red blood disorder that is inherited. The disease changes the shape of red blood cells to form a sickle, or crescent. It can block blood flow and break down inside the blood vessels. Children of people at risk of the disease are screened at birth. Living with the disease can be painful.
“On a really good day the blood will still flow, but any kind of stressor — dehydration, sickness, fever, high altitude, the cells take that funny shape and they start to clog up arteries and it can hurt,” said Dr. William Fintel, MD of Hematology and Oncology at Carilion Clinic.
About 100,000 people in the United States have Sickle Cell Disease.