The Honeybee's Lifestyle

Hello Honeybees,

September is National Sickle Awareness Cell Month

Why is this important to me and should be important to you?

Reason one- Sickle Cell disease is inherited and occurs in about 1 out of every 500 Black or African-American births.

Reason two- I carry the sickle cell trait

Now carrying the trait (thanks dad) doesn’t really affect my daily life. I’ll probably never be Serena as that kind of intense exercise can be very taxing on my system (Yeah, that’s the reason) & I am anemic but that just means that I need to get enough iron (good thing I love liver & spinach but hate taking iron pills).

See easy!!

On the other hand Sickle Cell Disease can and does affect the everyday life of those who inherit it.

Here is a pic of what a normal red blood cell looks like and one that is sickled.  Because of its shape it decreases the cells ability to effectively carry oxygen and cause other issues.

This condition can cause a sickle cell crisis. Sickle cell crisis are episodes of pain that occur with varying frequency and severity. It is usually followed by periods of remission. The risk for a sickle cell crisis increases with any activity that boosts the body’s requirement for oxygen. This may include illness, physical stress, or high altitudes.

These painful crises can last hours to days. They affect the bones of the back, the long bones, and the chest. The crises can be severe enough to require hospital admission for pain control and IV fluids.

This is by no means all of the information that we should know about Sickle Cell Disease.  This is just to bring awareness to the disease.  

What can YOU do to help?

SPREAD THE WORD

Visit www.sicklecelldisease.org or  www.sicklecelltn.org or  www.stjude.org and donate your time, talent or treasure.

You can also donate blood.  Research shows that blood donors with the same ethnic background provide the best match to those with sickle cell disease.

Let’s be our brothers keeper!!

Belinda 

Beewisdom – We live in challenging times and we need to have each others back.