TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - LaShardae and Eric Scott have two beautiful little boys named Emery and Evan ages 5 and 6. Both of them were born with a genetic disease called sickle cell anemia.
This is a painful and potentially debilitating disease that disproportionately affects the African American community. 75% to 85% of the roughly 100,000 people diagnosed with the disease are African American.
LaShardae heads up the Sickle Cell Project at NEXUS Health Care, working with families who are living with the disease.
When it comes to her boys she says they have to do things in moderation.
“So I never tell them what they can’t do. I want to create as much normalcy as possible. I don’t want to enable them from their greatest potential in life.”
And that’s part of the education that she relays to families she works with.
For the first few years, the boys were in and out of the hospital to combat potentially deadly infections that can arise in patients with sickle cell. Both boys were on antibiotics for the first five years of life.
The disease affects the red blood cells which carry oxygen to every part of the body. In sickle cell patients, those red blood cells change in shape and form a sickle shape. This makes them become sticky and they can get stuck and block proper blood flow. These back-ups can clog up the blood vessels and block the oxygen flow to parts of the body. This results in extreme pain in the patients.
“As a parent, you feel bad cause you want to take their pain away,” the boys’ father, Eric, said. “I just try to tell them to be positive, keep them motivated. Tell them they are superheroes - what would the Ninja Turtles do? What would the Power Rangers do? Just anything to keep their spirits high.”
While there are some medications to treat and ease the symptoms of sickle cell, there is currently no cure.
If you’d like more information about area support for families and patients, you can contact the group by email at: scatoledo1@gmail.com
Copyright 2021 WTVG. All rights reserved.
"danger" - Google News
June 19, 2021 at 06:51AM
https://ift.tt/35E0CU8
The difficulties and danger of living with sickle cell anemia - 13abc Action News
"danger" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3bVUlF0
https://ift.tt/3f9EULr
No comments:
Post a Comment