Fighting Sickle Cell Disease

I don't often blog about my community outreach work - however I'm very passionate about the work that Seed of life organization is doing to raise awareness about the dreaded Sickle Cell Disease.

October is the month of giving - here in Seattle, and we're asking friends to donate their time and resources to help create awareness about this dreadful disease and help us fight it. There are several types of sickle cell disease, Sickle Cell Anemia (SS), Sickle-Hemoglobin C Disease (SC), Sickle Beta-Plus Thalassemia and Sickle Beta-Zero Thalassemia

Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA)Sickle Cell Anemia is the severest form of Sickle Cell Disease and the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States. An estimated 1 per 1,000 Hispanic Americans are affected by sickle cell disease in the US, however it appears to be prevalent amongst African Americans affecting 1 in 500 African Americans. (Source: Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology)

There is no known cure at this time – bone marrow transplants are an option however this has a low success rate among older patients. The Seed of life Philanthropic Organization also known as SOLPO, exists to raise awareness about this disease – especially within the black community. We also seek to educate those who may be at risk of giving birth to children with Sickle Cell Anemia.

In my next SOLPO post – I’ll outline some of the key initiatives which YOU can undertake to increase awareness about this disease and support our efforts to contain it.