More people needed for bone marrow registry

Grace Ndayizeye spent most of her sophomore year of high school in the hospital.

“I was in the hospital every week because of pain crisis,” said the 18-year-old Lewis and Clark senior.

Ndayizeye has sickle cell anemia, a hereditary disease in which a mutated form of hemoglobin causes red blood cells to become stiff instead of flexible, and form a sickle or a crescent. Those hard, sickle-shaped cells can get stuck in small blood vessels and slow or totally block blood flow, blocking oxygen from parts of the body. This causes the intense pain that has sent her to the hospital so many times.

“It’s like a huge charley horse that doesn’t relax,” she said. “The pain comes in waves. Mine starts in my chest and then goes all over.”

In the United States, sickle cell disease affects 70,000 to 100,000 people. It’s most common among African-Americans and Hispanics, according to the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute, but is also found in other ethnic and racial groups.

The only known cure for the disease is a bone marrow transplant. However, finding a marrow match is difficult/ Cindy Hval , SR. More here.