You and your children could have this trait and not even know you have it. You can easily find out by just asking your obstetrician. This trait has killed at least 11 football players since 2000 during practice and it is called Sickle Cell Trait. The sad thing is the deceased players did not have Sickle Cell Anemia. They didn’t know they had the trait (like most of us), and they dropped dead during practice.
On our BackTalk live stream and podcast, Janice Robinson-Celeste, publisher of Successful Black Parenting magazine and CEO of Successful Parenting Media spoke with Dr. Corey Hebert. Herbert is a pediatrician, affiliated with Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. He is carrying the banner for educating the Black family about this disease. He implores them to find out if they have the trait. This discovery can save lives.
“About 1 in 13 Black or African-American babies is born with sickle cell trait (SCT).” — CDC
“If you have the trait and procreate with another person who also has the trait, your baby will be born with Sickle Cell Anemia — it is a painful disease and there is no cure for it.”
Statistics
This disease affects about 100 to 300 million Americans and most of them are Black.
History
This disease started as a trait to protect Africans living around Victoria Falls in Africa from getting malaria. Mosquitoes there carried the deadly parasite and wouldn’t affect those who had Sickle Cell Disease.
How Traits Work
Today many African Americans carry the trait for the disease but don’t know it. If you have the trait and procreate with another person who also has the trait, your baby will be born with Sickle Cell Anemia. It is a painful disease and there is no cure for it.
Celebrities
Some famous people who have Sickle cell include Larenz Tate, Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, Tiki Barber, and Paul Williams of the Temptations.
Life Expectancy
The average life expectancy for a woman with sickle cell is 42-years-old and 38-years old for a man. “Although the most common known causes of death for adults with Sickle Cell Disease are acute chest syndrome, stroke, pulmonary hypertension, and infection, the direct cause of death is frequently undefined, and patients often die suddenly,” according to Ash Publications. Listen to the above broadcast to find out more.
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