Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle Cell Disease is an illness of red blood cells.
The job of red blood cells is to carry the oxygen we breathe to every part of the body.
Oxygen rides inside the red blood cell on a special protein called hemoglobin.
Some people are born with a different kind of hemoglobin. This hemoglobin makes red blood cells change shape.
Normally, red blood cells are shaped like a squishy donut and can squeeze into very tiny blood vessels.
In people with Sickle Cell Disease the red blood cell changes shape.
Instead of being round and squishy, the red blood cell is curved and pointy.
When there is illness, injury, or other stress, a person with Sickle Cell Disease can have lots of pain and other problems. This is because when red blood cells are curved and pointy, they cannot squeeze into tiny blood vessels.
People with Sickle Cell Disease are treated by doctors who specialize in blood disorders, called hematologists.
There are many medicines and treatments that can help people born with Sickle Cell Disease.
Doctors and scientists are working hard to find a cure for Sickle Cell Disease.