The Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation's second annual sickle cell walk/run and health fair was held Saturday, April 15, at the Emmett Till Multi-Purpose Complex near Sumner.
Among the guests was two-time Grammy Awards winning blues singer, songwriter and guitarist, who lost three children to sickle cell disease.
Sumner native Evelyn Washington, who now lives in Rome, is a Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation board member and she pronounced the Tallahatchie County event another success.
"The Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation thanks you for all you do to help raise the awareness of sickle cell in the rural Mississippi Delta. We could not make this possible without everyone joining hands," Washington noted in a statement.
"Furthermore, we thank the Emmett Till Multi-Complex facility and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center staff, local and surrounding businesses, Coahoma Community College faculty and staff, vendors and every person who participated in this event for joining hands with the Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation to educate others about this painful and complex disorder that affects over 100,000 in the United States," she continued. "Individuals living with this debilitating health condition face many challenges such as chronic pain and organ damage, severe anemia and even death."
Sickle cell disease is the most common form of inherited blood disorder and affects African Americans at much higher rates than people of other ethnicities.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SCD affects approximately 100,000 Americans.
» SCD occurs among about 1 out of every 365 Black or African American births.
» SCD occurs among about 1 out of every 16,300 Hispanic-American births.
» About 1 in 13 Black or African American babies is born with sickle cell trait.
To learn more, visit the Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation website or the U.S. government's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
