Blood Transfusions Provide Relief for Mother and Daughter Living with Sickle Cell Disease

By Briana Phillips, Red Cross Volunteer

Nikyah and Britney

When you picture a blood transfusion recipient, you usually visualize someone that was involved in a traumatic accident, like a trauma patient that was in a car accident and lost several units of blood. And while blood donations are commonly used in emergency situations, they also can be greatly beneficial for those with sickle cell disease. For Britney and her daughter Nikyah, who both live with the disease, a transfusion can be lifesaving.

Britney has lived with sickle cell disease nearly her whole life, but she didn’t receive an official diagnosis until she was eight. “It happened all of a sudden,” Britney remembered, “I was extremely active playing sports, but one day it’s like everything switched. I was hurting constantly.” After going to the emergency room several times, doctors finally discovered that Britney had sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease causes red blood cells to be hard and crescent-shaped instead of soft and round. As a result, it is difficult for blood to flow smoothly and carry adequate oxygen to the rest of the body, which may result in severe pain, stroke and organ damage. 

Britney stated that everything in her life has changed since she was diagnosed. “Some days aren’t too bad. But then some days, I’ll be hurting so bad in my arms, legs and joints that I have to go to the hospital for relief. You really never know what you are going to feel like from one day to the next.”

Not only does Britney live with sickle cell disease, but so does her nine-year-old daughter, Nikyah. While Nikyah has had her fair share of pain as well, including having her spleen removed, she is healthy and active.

In the U.S., it is estimated that over 100,000 people – the majority of whom are of African descent – have sickle cell disease and may require blood transfusions throughout their lifetime to help manage their disease. Blood donations from individuals of the same race or similar ethnicity and blood type have a unique ability to help patients experiencing a sickle cell crisis. 

Blood transfusion helps relieve pain during a crisis and prevent other complications by increasing the number of healthy red blood cells in the body, helping to deliver oxygen throughout the body and unblock blood vessels.

Britney and Nikyah have both needed blood transfusions when the pain becomes unmanageable.

“Having a transfusion is like getting your life back,” Britney described. “All the energy and strength I had been missing slowly returns and it’s like I can breathe a huge sigh of relief. Once I get the transfusion, I feel capable of going back home and getting back to my life like normal.”

Even though Britney feels much relief after a blood transfusion, it doesn’t compare to what she feels when she sees Nikyah undergo the same treatment. “I know exactly what she is going through, so being able to watch Nikyah get her energy back is amazing,” Britney said. “It’s like watching someone come back to life again.”

Thankfully, Britney and Nikyah haven’t needed to get blood transfusions often. But when they do, they are glad that blood donations from generous Red Cross blood donors are there to help them get back to living their lives. 

“Transfusions give me and my daughter hope,” Britney shared. “Blood donations really do save lives.”

Learn more at RedCrossBlood.org/OurBlood.