The Hina Patel Foundation held its sixth annual 5K walk Saturday Sept. 13. The event was designed to raise awareness on Sickle Cell Disease and funds to find a cure. Sickle Cell is a genetic blood disorder passed from parent to offspring.
Sanjay Patel, one of the event coordinators, spoke briefly about how important it is to raise awareness about SCD and encouraged people to get a blood test to see if they have the trait and to donate blood and bone marrow.
Approximately $30,000 was raised to be sent to UCLA’s research group. Camp Crescent Moon and local churches are also being utilized to spread the word. The Hina Patel Foundation has a goal to find the cure of SCD and a gene therapy has been getting tested on animals and has been a success. Patel also says it is important for doctors to know how to treat ER patients.
Laura Grant, who had a grandson with Sickle Cell participating in the walk, expressed the difficulty of life for Prince Mack on a day-to-day basis. “You never know when the symptoms will let up and it’s hard to shake the pain,” she said. Prince Mack, who happened to be African American, inherited the disease at birth.
One in every twelve blacks inherits the disease and one out of every thirty six thousand Hispanics.
When a red blood cell turns defective it tends to die, turns a different shape, then clogs the blood stream, therefore causing a pain to the veins and body. Symptoms can last anywhere from seven to 10 days.
Prince Mack had just recently celebrated his 10th birthday, doubling his life expectancy. Prince Mack has had pneumonia over 50 times, cannot be in cold water, and is hospitalized usually once a month. He also has to take 13 medications each day.
Grant was also asked how important it was to raise awareness on SCD, and with no hesitation she said, “It can be anyone with the trait or disease.” People are suffering by not knowing they have either and a lot of pain is suffered. Transplants and transfusions are very helpful for those who need them because there is a shortage in donors.
Pauline Barker, who participated in the event but does not have the trait or disease, said she had a great experience and she would love to do it again.