Seeing red in September? It’s Sickle Cell Awareness Month
The Crescent City Connection will be illuminated in red on Friday, September 18, to honor the 3,000 children and adults in Louisiana living with sickle cell disease. There is much to celebrate this year, including a major milestone: the first patient in Louisiana and the broader Gulf South was functionally cured of sickle cell disease through gene therapy.
Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the world, affecting more than 100,000 people in the U.S., more than 90% of whom are Black. The South has the highest prevalence of sickle cell disease in the country.
For patients in Louisiana, the Tulane Sickle Cell Center of Southern Louisiana provides care across the southern half of the state, offers 24-hour phone consultations for physicians, and connects patients with the latest treatments and research. The annual Sickle Cell Run/Walk raises money to support the center and its work.
One of those patients is Daniel Cressy, 23, who has received care through Tulane’s Sickle Cell Center since childhood. Under the care of Dr. Benjamin Watkins, section chief of pediatric hematology/oncology at Tulane School of Medicine and director of the Stem Cell Transplant and Cell and Gene Therapy Program at Manning Family Children’s, Cressy became the first person in Louisiana to be functionally cured of sickle cell disease through gene therapy.
Cressy will speak at the bridge lighting ceremony on September 18 and at the 9th Annual Sickle Cell Run/Walk on Saturday, September 19. The event brings together patients, families, health care professionals, and community supporters to raise awareness and support people living with sickle cell disease.