And then, there are the crises in younger children (1- 6 years of age), a crisis usually occurs in one of two ways:

• Sudden, excruciating bone pains – especially in the small bones of the hands and feet – otherwise called bone pain crises.
• Sudden loss of blood volume, either by spontaneous large-scale disintegration/break up of red blood cells, or by sudden sequestration (or pooling) of blood into organs like the liver and spleen.

The former requires the infusion of fluids, pain relief, sedation, and treatment of infections. The latter requires, in addition, BLOOD TRANSFUSION. Both cases usually require hospital admission, sometimes for days.

And on and on it goes until they eventually die, usually before their 30^th birthday.

Socioeconomic Burden:

The current numbers do not take into account the financial burden this illness places on caregivers, the healthcare system, and the economy as a whole…and it certainly doesn’t paint a picture of the psychological and emotional toll this takes on the sufferers and their loved ones.

We can end that suffering, and those needless deaths…easily. With your help.

Our Discovery:

Through our work at the foundation, we have been able to demonstrate that children and adults with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) can see significant improvements in their quality of life if their immune systems are adequately supported and strengthened. To our knowledge, improvements like these have never before been seen in Nigeria, which has the highest number of cases of SCD in the world (click here to view sample video testimonials from our patients).