He’s had to miss roughly half of the entire school year, relying on help from a homebound teacher’s aide. For Dreylan, flare-ups of extreme pain-known as sickle cell crises-often keep him from participating in common activities that make up everyday teen life. September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month, a time to acknowledge and support those living with the disease who navigate its challenges year-round.
And this is the one thing that I cannot not fix,” Vesha recalled. “Typically as moms, we put on our capes and we come to our children's rescue. He’s had more than a dozen so far in his lifetime. One in three African American blood donors are a match for people with sickle cell disease, the most common genetic blood disorder in the country affecting mostly those of African descent.ĭreylan’s chronic pain crises still continue today and sometimes require blood transfusions. population is eligible to donate blood, but only about 3% donate each year. This often leads to severe pain, tissue and organ damage, anemia and strokes.įinding compatible blood types for sickle cell patients like Dreylan isn’t easy. living with the disease, which distorts round, healthy red blood cells into crescent-shaped ones, making it difficult for them to flow through the bloodstream and carry oxygen to the body. “Over the course of those two days, he got progressively worse,” said his mother, Vesha Jamison, who works as a blood donor recruitment manager for the Red Cross and was keenly aware of the low national blood inventory levels.ĭreylan is one of more than 100,000 people across the U.S. The impacts of an active disaster season, busy travel season and back-to-school have caused numerous canceled blood drives, resulting in tens of thousands of blood donations going uncollected. His situation is reminiscent of what many patients are going through now, as the Red Cross has seen a concerning drop in blood donations in recent months. That’s when doctors raised the flag that he needed blood-immediately.īut the one item that could help both reduce the pain and restore the bounce in his step was unavailable.
His hemoglobin dropped and his platelet count plummeted. But that energy quickly vanished when Dreylan became riddled with excruciating, life-threatening pain in the fall of 2021. Thirteen-year-old Dreylan Holmes may not describe himself as very talkative, yet he’s got an abundance of energy that fuels his love of sports.
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