Sickle Cell Disease: Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow
Imagine a child being hooked up to an IV of heavy narcotics just to ease the pain of a “crisis” resulting from a sickle cell attack. Imagine sitting in the waiting room with a loved-one whose hands are clinching your arms while waves of excruciating pain ripple through her body because of another sickle cell crisis. While situations like these may not personally affect your life, there are more than 70,000 Americans suffering each and every day because of sickle cell, including those most vulnerable—newborns and young children.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited red blood cell disorder, most common among African Americans and Hispanics, with an additional 2.5 million sickle cell trait carriers in the United States alone. Most often, sickle cell disease causes a pain “crisis,” which can be managed with medication, but the disease can also lead to stroke, organ damage and early death.
Sickle cell disease is not contagious. It is a genetic disorder, and there is a 25 percent chance each child will have the disease if both parents carry the genetic trait. Having the disease means your blood cells are hard, sticky and can change from being donut shaped to being shaped like a crescent moon. Normal red blood cells are round like doughnuts and easily move through small blood tubes in the body to deliver oxygen. The odd shape and structure of the sickle cells cause great pain, organ damage, low blood count and anemia to sufferers because the hard, pointed cells have trouble traveling through the small blood vessels.
Serving as a catalyst for awareness, education and hope for sickle cell, the William E. Proudford Sickle Cell Fund was founded in 2005 after William E. Proudford passed away from several serious conditions, including his life-long struggle with sickle cell disease, leaving a legacy of goodwill among his wife, children, family and friends. This inspiration motivated the family to start the fund in his memory, holding an annual fundraiser to gain support for the mission of improving the lives of those affected by sickle cell.
In an effort to raise the much-needed funds for research, the Proudford family held its first fundraiser in 2006. Now the organization continues to spread awareness and garner research funding throughout Delaware and Maryland. Supporters have donated time, talent and treasure, namely major hospitals, including Nemours Alfred I. duPont Children’s Hospital, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland Medical System. A host of individual, political and civic groups also continue to support the fund. Past keynote speakers at the annual fundraising event include Robin Smith, M.D., and Randall Pinkett (winner of “The Apprentice”). This year’s speaker is John Hope Bryant, CEO of Operation Hope.
This year’s event will be held on September 30, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor in Baltimore. For more information and to find out about sickle cell disease, visit www.wepsicklecell.org.
—Tanesha Boldin
