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GARLAND, Texas (NBCDFW.com) – Living with constant pain is a reality for people with sickle cell disease, an inherited disorder of hemoglobin, a molecule that carries oxygen in red blood cells .
Patients with sickle cell disease have red blood cells containing abnormal hemoglobin, which causes stiffness of the cells and forms a sickle or a crescent
Because it is difficult for cells in As a sickle form of crossing small blood vessels, the flow of blood is sometimes blocked and oxygen does not reach nearby tissues.
A bone marrow transplant is the only known cure for sickle cell disease, but finding a well-matched donor was not easy for Darian Smith, 8, of Garland.
He was diagnosed at 10 days – I do not know when he will know his next episode of pain, called a sickle cell crisis.
"When I sense it coming, it starts as someone hits me and when it gets bad, like that, it's He remembers that his parents, Charda Ransom and Darian Smith Sr., have said that their son had spent most of his life inside and outside the hospital
. relieve the pain, but they know that this is not that a temporary relief.
"For that he is completely cured of this disease, he needs a bone marrow transplant."
Blacks are under-represented in the Bone Marrow Registry, According to DKMS.org, this only accounts for 7% of all enrolled.
Because the patient's best chance of finding a matching bone marrow donor is with someone who has a bone marrow. similar ancestry, black people with sickle cell disease have more difficulty finding a bone marrow match.
In the United States, most People "The numbers in the registry are just not overwhelming enough for him to find a match," said Ransom.
About one in 365 black children is born with sickle cell disease and Darian's parents hope their son's story will encourage others to join the donor registry.
"So I could be like an ordinary child," says Darian
To see if you qualify to become a donor, click here.
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