Sickle cell disease, hemophilia, and thalassemia are a few of the inherited blood disorders.
Dr. Waveney Charles is a hematologist, or specialist in blood-related conditions. She believes that the number of people born with sickle cell disease and other blood disorders would lessen if the world would do the following:
- Educate people about blood disorders
- Manage the diseases effectively
- Proficiently diagnose and treat
Blood disorders are not an automatic death sentence, as they were in the past.
Nowadays, we can detect hereditary blood disorders early and have medical advances that aid in treatment. In addition, patients can now live long and fairly health lives. Dr. Charles states that she has a 75-year-old patient who has been living with sickle cell anemia. Also, she states that at one time it was not normal for someone with sickle cell anemia to live that long. Dr. Charles remembers that in the 1960s, she was told that those with sickle cell anemia did not live past the age of 20. Having the disease was sort of a death sentence.
With sophisticated methods, such as prenatal or natal diagnosis, she believes that they are able to give the best treatment and care for patients. Therefore, it is very rare for toddlers die from the disease in comparison to those in the past that died due to an infection.
