Anyone you know considering buying or selling a home please refer them on over to my real estate sales team. Not only will they benefit from our award-winning service, but a very worthy cause will benefit as well. Simply call me direct at 909-750-0222 or forward my number on.
As you will see throughout this month’s homeward bound, pictures are worth more than words. Whether it´s the smiling faces of beautiful young people gaining a chance at long life, or the determined faces of our great company people working to help, we are committed to the mission of Go Serve Big!!!
P.S. Do you like stories? Everyone has one. The story of this young person enclosed is a really good one. Read with tissue handy.
P.P.S It is easy to refer those you know considering buying or selling a home. Just call me at 909-750-0222 or pass on my number direct at 909-750-0222 or forward my number on.
Why I Support Loma Linda Children's Hospital:
Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a common yet overlooked genetic disorder, with approximately 300,000 babies worldwide born with the disease each year, according to the World Health Organization.
Although there is a highly diverse patient population in the Inland Empire affected by SCD, there are unique barriers to receiving care in our region. Akshat Jain, MD, MPH, a global sickle cell disease
expert, and his team continue to combat those barriers by raising awareness of the disease and treatment options available at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.
The Nwaezeapu family is one of many in the community affected by SCD. Acie, 8, and her brother Acin, 6, were both born with SCD.
With this disease, they were born with irregularly shaped red blood cells. Due to this shape, texture, and inflexibility, the cells become clumped together. Jain explains these clumps cause blockages in
Acie and Acin’s blood vessels, hindering blood flow thus cutting off lifesaving oxygen to these cells. This lack of oxygen or Ischemia cause many health difficulties, most notably severe acute pain in the
bones and muscles, anemia and jaundice. The disease may also cause emergent issues — what Jain calls “sickle cell crises,” including infections, acute chest syndrome, and stroke in patients of all age
groups affected by SCD.
Acie and Acin’s mom, Alainya, knew before having children that she was a carrier of the SCD trait. But Acie and Acin’s dad, Christopher, had been told since childhood that he wasn’t a carrier and
didn’t find out otherwise until Acie was born. Because both parents were carriers, Acie and Acin had a 25% chance of being born with the disease.
“Her diagnosis blindsided us,” the Nwaezeapus say. “It was challenging to process. We were excited to have a newborn childhood who, to the best of our knowledge, was healthy. Then a few days later,
we got the phone call that changed everything for us.”
Christopher, a registered nurse, previously cared for many SCD patients. “It seemed like a hard road that my child would have to walk down, even if you just look up the lifespan for someone with sickle
cell disease,” he says. “It crossed my mind that I might outlive my child.”
In 2017, Jain was invited to Children’s Hospital to set up a center of excellence for sickle cell disease. A program that would take on the care of hundreds of sickle cell and anemia patients in the Inland
Empire and beyond.
“Sickle cell patients were already receiving great care at Children’s Hospital, but it was scattered,” Jain says. “We intended this program to provide full service, comprehensive sickle cell care, not only
when patients need intervention for pain and in events of crisis, but to ultimately keep them out of the hospital and keep them as close as possible to a quality of life similar to their peers.”
Jain had his first clinic visit with Acie and Acin approximately a year later — a visit that was supposed to be simple, educational, and routine. However, during the exam, Jain noticed Acie had a massive enlargement of her spleen — pointing to the onset of a major sickle cell crisis.
The Nwaezeapus are slowly educating Acie and Acin about SCD as they get older and can understand more information. But, for now, they say it’s important that their kids know basics, such as drinking water, staying out of the heat, speaking up if they’re feeling sick or having stomach pains, etc.
As for Acie and Acin’s treatment, there are various options, including medicines for pain management, blood transfusions, vaccines, and antibiotics. Currently, stem cell transplant from bone marrow is the only recognized cure for SCD — a course of curative therapy that Children’s Hospital and Jain’s team have successfully performed more than 10 times.
However, stem cell transplants aren’t without their risks. As a result, the Nwaezeapus are currently utilizing other treatment options and remain hopeful for upcoming curative options.
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