People with sickle cell disease call themselves warriors. They battle their own bodies, and they too often must confront hospital workers who doubt their pain and a public that doesn’t understand their illness. The fight begins at a very young age, which is something Alexis Lott knows well. The 32-year-old
The supply of blood in Illinois is critically low right now. It’s so low, that the Red Cross said hospitals have been forced to cancel surgeries. But donors can help multiple patients, even the smallest Chicagoans, by rolling up their sleeves. Sometimes the tiniest patients need the biggest forms of
Losing your appetite. Enduring back and leg pain, harsh skin reactions and lumbar punctures. Watching your hair falling out. It’s all a daily reality for 8-year-old Mia. “Mia was just a normal kid,” said Teresa, Mia’s mother. “Extremely active and loved to be outside. Loves the water. She’s obsessed with
An aspiring chef recognized with a uncommon blood dysfunction is hoping her story encourages others to become blood donors in the neighborhood. Naomi Hennesey, 19, has Thalassemia, an autoimmune blood dysfunction that stops her from making crimson blood cells. “I need to get units of blood every three weeks,” Naomi
Twenty-one-year-old Jasemine Jackson-Winston is a senior studying at Ohio State University. She was born with sickle cell disease. “It’s frustrating. It’s hard for me to focus and hard for me to study because of the pain,” said Jackson-Winston. Sickle cell is inherited and mostly affects the black community. Red blood