September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month, and like most things during the pandemic, it looks a little different this year. While we can't have in-person match drives just yet, there are plenty of ways you can get involved to build awareness of sickle cell disease, empower sickle cell warriors, grow the registry and save more lives!
Sickle cell disease is an often-painful disease caused by misshapen hemoglobin, a protein in your blood and it affects approximately 100,000 people of all ages in the United States – but it doesn't have to be for life. A blood or bone marrow transplant can cure sickle cell disease. And while a bone marrow transplant can cure sickle cell disease, ethnicity matters when finding an unrelated match – and more diverse donors are urgently needed. You could be the match that helps save a life.
One of our former patients, Rehana Konate, shared how a bone marrow transplant in 2019 has totally changed her life! After 18 years of medications, hospitalizations and pain, Rehana is thriving after finding a match in her sister. If not for her transplant, she says she wouldn't be where she is today, enjoying college and living life to the fullest. Rehana encourages everyone to register to be a match and change lives for people living with blood disorders.
You can join the Be The Match registry through our Yale registration page here, or by texting STARYALE to 61474.
Check out SickleCellConnect.com for more information, data, and ways you can grow the Be The Match registry and help save lives.