Did you know?

There's 25% possibility for children to develop sickle cell anemia if they inherit the sickle cell trait from both their parents.

Sickle cell carriers have a 50% chance of passing the trait to their children

The life expectancy for sickle cell has increased over the years to living up to an age of  42 years for females and 48 years for males. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs308/en/

It was once only 14 years old for men, because of death from strokes, organ failures, brain tumors, and chest pain.

72,000 Americans have sickle cell anemia but 1 in 500 African American babies are diagnosed with sickle cell anemia making black the leading race for the disease

Approximately 2.5 million Americans have the sickle cell trait but only 1,000 babies are born with sickle cell anemia. http://www.sicklecelldisease.org/index.cfm?page=faq

Individuals whose ancestors lived in sub- Saharan, Africa, Middle East, India, or the Mediterranean region such as Portuguese, Spanish most likely have the trait.

The trait is most common where malaria is common but people who have the sickle cell trait most likely don't get malaria.

1 in 12 African Americans are a carrier

Worldwide, it has been estimated that 250,000 children are born each year with sickle cell anemia http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/facts.html