Along with jumping rope and playing on playgrounds, some of my earliest childhood memories were made in hospitals and hematology offices.
Like many children living with sickle cell disease (SCD), I was diagnosed with the condition shortly after I was born. I recall meeting other kids who had SCD at doctors’ offices, but they always seemed so much sicker than I was.
I experienced bouts of pain known as “crises” and received blood transfusions, but these occurrences were infrequent. I felt like a “normal child” until I was a teenager and began experiencing life-threatening complications.
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