To help commemorate Sickle Cell Awareness Month, South Texas Blood & Tissue and DreamVoice invite the community to join in a conversation about sickle cell disease. The event is free and open to the public. Parking and refreshments will be provided.

A panel of experts will discuss and answer questions about sickle cell disease and offer ways to be an advocate in the community.

The panel, moderated by Dr. Kenneth Kemp M.D., Senior Pastor at Antioch Baptist Missionary Church, will include Dr. Melissa Frei-Jones, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at University Health and UT Health San Antonio and a nationally recognized expert on treating sickle cell anemia; Audra Taylor, Vice President of Blood Services, South Texas Blood & Tissue; and Shanice Bishop, whose daughter, Lyric, lives with sickle cell.

Sickle cell disease is a blood disorder that causes pain, anemia and organ damage. It is passed on through a sickle cell trait, a gene mutation inherited from parents.
• According to research from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in 13 Black or African American babies are born with sickle cell trait,
• More than 100 million people worldwide carry sickle cell trait, according to the American Society for Hematology.

Although there are many advances being made to combat sickle cell, patients often need frequent blood transfusions from donors who have a healthy genetic match.

People of African descent are 10 times more likely to be a suitable blood match for patients in need of blood that lacks specific red blood cell antigens, according to statistics from America’s Blood Centers.

Sickle cell affects approximately 100,000 Americans and occurs among about one out of every 365 Black or African American births. It affects one out of every 16,300 Hispanic American births, according to the CDC.

The public is asked to RSVP at https://dwsa.link/sicklecell.