Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[Music]
Brothers Julius and Desmond Means were just babies when they were diagnosed with sickle
cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that can cause extreme pain, organ damage,
stroke and other complications.
I was just totally prepared to live out my whole life with sickle cell.
As many as 100,000 people in the United States are affected by sickle cell. The disease causes
red blood cells, shaped like a sickle or crescent, to become hard and sticky. These abnormal
cells deliver less oxygen to the body's tissues. Growing up, Julius and Desmond tired easily
and couldn't play or keep up with their friends. As they grew older, the disease caused bone
damage and affected Julius' lungs. Sickle cell was damaging Desmond's organs.
When I go to school, people be like, oh, what's wrong with his eyes, his eyes are green or
yellow, like what's wrong with that? Well I got something called sickle cell disease.
But the brothers no longer suffer from sickle cell. Julius and Desmond both receive successful
stem cell transplants at the University of Illinois Hospital to cure their sickle cell
disease.
The transplants were performed using a relatively new treatment approach without the toxic affects
of chemotherapy. The transplants were made possible by their healthy brother, Clifford,
who was a rare match for his two younger brothers.
They are cured of sickle cell now because of Clifford. I have a miracle going on in
my family.
Clifford was given medication to increase the number of stem cells in his bloodstream.
Then, his blood was processed through a machine that collects white blood cells, including
stem cells. The stem cells were then frozen until the transplants were performed.
Instead of wiping out a patient's bone marrow with chemotherapy, physicians at the University
of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System used medication to suppress the body's immune
system and gave one small dose of radiation before the transplant. The procedure is relatively
uncommon in the United States, and UI Hospital is the first to offer the treatment in the
Chicago area.
We were all elated, I mean I had won the lottery of health and I had been praying for this
all of their lives.
It's been several months since their transplants and Julius and Desmond have goals and dreams
for their future. While hospitalized, Julius composed a rap about receiving his bone marrow
transplant at UI Hospital.
But here's a miracle, clearing our main obstacle, BMT at UIC, our dreams are now reality.
UI Health has a comprehensive sickle cell center dedicated to adult and pediatric research
and patient care.
This is Sherri McGinnis-Gonzalez reporting for UIC News.