Memorial Blood Centers Reaches out to the Community to Raise Awareness of Sickle Cell Disease

ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --  Memorial Blood Centers is joining in celebrating September as Sickle Cell Awareness Month with a special appeal to potential sickle cell negative blood donors to step up and make a difference in the life of someone battling the pain of this chronic disease.  

Each year, about 1 in every 500 African-American infants are born with sickle cell—an inherited red blood cell disorder that also affects other populations, including people from the Middle East, Greece, Italy, Latin America, and India. Regular blood transfusions are a major component of treatment for the agonizing pain that often results when a life-threatening episode occurs.  

For Rae Blaylark, instructional trainer with Memorial Blood Centers and Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of Sickle Cell Disease Advocates of Minnesota [http://www.scdam.org/], the battle against this painful and sometimes debilitating disease is personal. "From the day my son, Treyvon, was diagnosed as a newborn, both my work and my advocacy have been driven by my passion," she says with pride.  "As many of us know, every two seconds someone needs blood. To me this isn't just a number. It hits right to my heart because my son, Trey, is someone who continues to be sustained by the generosity of volunteer blood donors."

Both Rae and Trey are active spokespeople for Memorial Blood Centers' Sickle Cell Donor Program, a registry of blood donors who have voluntarily been tested and identified as sickle cell trait negative. "The more often Trey and kids like him are transfused, the more likely he is to develop resistance to donated blood. However, healthy blood from donors of similar ethnic origin is more likely to be compatible. That's why this program is so valuable. It takes steps to carefully match blood donors with patients needing transfusions."

Jasper Brinkley of the Minnesota Vikings also has given of his time and talent to advocate for blood donations that help tackle sickle cell disease in the community.

As a volunteer blood donor, Jasper says, "I know that every time I give, I could be helping kids like Trey battle sickle cell disease with a transfusion of donated blood to relieve his pain."  Jasper's support of Memorial Blood Centers' program includes a Public Service Announcement (PSA), filmed with Trey, and available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/MemorialBloodCenters.

Annually, Memorial Blood Centers provides nearly 1,000 units of sickle trait negative blood to Minneapolis Children's Hospital to meet demand.  Visit MBC.org for more information.

About Memorial Blood Centers
Memorial Blood Centers has been saving lives for over 60 years as an independent nonprofit supplying life-saving blood to area hospitals and other partners throughout the U.S. Operating 11 donor centers and conducting hundreds of blood drives each month, Memorial Blood Centers also provides comprehensive testing and expert technical services as a national leader in transfusion medicine. For more information, call 888-GIVE-BLD or visit MBC.org.

SOURCE Memorial Blood Centers