For sickle cell disease patients, Red Cross blood drives provide an important lifeline
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Red Cross mission to prevent and relieve human suffering continues even when there's not an emergency, from installing smoke alarms to collecting blood donations, and being in a city the size of Chicago, the need for blood is constant, particularly for people suffering from sickle cell disease.
When Angelica Green looks through pictures of her children, he thinks of the great times they've had, but there were also some difficult times. Her son, McKinley has sickle cell disease.
"Their blood cells are not round, like you and I, but they are shaped like a sickle, kind of like a croissant," she said.
People with the disease often get sudden, debilitating bouts of pain. McKinley was diagnosed with sickle cell disease when he was just 2 weeks old.
"What they told me was that McKinley wouldn't live long, probably a year or so. That was heartbreaking, and for a minute, I was like, okay. It broke me down, but then I got myself together. I started looking for doctors," Angelica said.
The family was living in Iowa at the time, but they moved to Chicago for better care.
"As a mother of a son who has sickle cell disease, it has been a challenge. From day one, McKinley has been in the hospitals on and off his entire life," Angelica said.
McKinley is now 21 years old, and studying biochemical engineering.
"Being in and out of the hospital, seeing how the innards work of the vaccines, the vaccinations and the medicine all work is fascinating to me, I would say when I was growing up, and I kind of wanted to contribute to that," he said.
Blood transfusions are part of his care, so McKinley and Angelica give back by working with the Red Cross on blood drives.
"For someone who's had a blood transfusion, seeing all these people came from the kindness of their heart, come out to help to help us, I'm just really grateful for it," McKinley said.
"I know what it's like when you see that blood come in, and you see the healthy blood going into your child, and the sickle cell blood going out, and I know that he's coming back, his color is coming back, he's getting oxygen, and it's saving his life. So it is more personal for me," Angelica said.