Charleston nonprofit dreams of getting more Black blood donors for sickle cell patients | Health

When Keosha Garrett’s younger sister, Shanavia Garrett, was rushed to the hospital in July 2021, she opted to stay home instead of going with her. 

Garrett said she figured Shanavia would be home by the end of the day. That was the normal routine for when Shanavia would go into crisis.

Many patients with sickle cell disease, like Shanavia, frequent emergency rooms for help managing pain in the midst of a sickle cell crisis. 

“But this time she didn’t come home,” Garrett told The Post and Courier. 

Sickle cell disease is an inherited red blood cell disorder in which there are not enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. People affected by the disease need blood with specific antigens to help their red blood cell count.

Many sickle cell patients endure periodic pain episodes called pain crises. These episodes can last for days at a time or just a few hours. But the most severe cases require hospitalization and many require monthly blood transfusions to stave off frequent pain crises and other complications. 

Shanavia died within 12 hours of arriving at The Medical University of South Carolina. She was 21 years old. 

The disease is estimated to affect nearly 100,000 people in the U.S., the majority of whom are African American, but an exact number isn’t available. 

In South Carolina, it’s estimated to affect nearly 4,000 people. 

Many people with sickle cell disease need frequent blood transfusions to help stave off severe pain and other complications from the disease. So blood donations for this community are extremely important, especially since people with sickle cell can’t take blood from every donor. 

They need special donors with matching antigens or proteins on the surface of each red blood cell. 

If the antigens in their blood and the donated blood don’t match, their immune system could attack the new blood and cause more serious health problems. 

Shanavia knew this.

“She was always taking care of people with the disease when she was well,” Garrett said.

Shanavia fundraised for sickle cell patients in the hospital and organized blood drives to help those in search of a match. 

Now Garrett is picking up the torch. She founded Shanavia’s Dream Sickle Cell Clinic in 2022. The organization focuses on pain management, transportation, child care and providing other resources patients may need if not offered elsewhere. 

Recently, the organization held its second annual blood drive in McClellanville, their family’s hometown, to celebrate Shanavia’s birthday on June 10. 

Last year the annual drive had 30 donors. All of them were Black. Garrett said this year only 25 donors gave blood and all but two were Black.  

Studies show that one in three Black blood donors are a match for people with sickle cell disease. 

And last year 80 percent of the donors that came out to Garrett’s blood drive were considered special donors, meaning their blood was ideal for patients with sickle cell. 

“It makes them want to donate more because even if they’re not directly affected by sickle cell, they have family that are affected, like a sister, ” Garrett said. 

Yet the number of Black blood donors is slim compared to other ethnicities.

According to officials from the American Red Cross of South Carolina, Black blood donors made up 4 percent of the organization’s national blood donor base before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Now Black donors only make up 3.5 percent of the Red Cross donor base, said Mandy McMahon, regional communications manager for the organization. 

Dr. Christina Adams, pediatric sickle cell director at MUSC, said while the national blood shortage seems to be improving, she is still struggling to find blood donor matches for sickle cell patients. 

“When you’re trying to give someone blood you want it to be as close a match as possible,” Adams said. 

It’s especially important for patients who will need multiple blood transfusions over the course of their lifetime. If their blood isn’t matched down to the minor antigens, over time they can develop antibodies that can cause other health problems. 

This is the case for Rubin Beaufort III. He has sickle cell anemia, the most severe form of the disease, and has to do full blood exchanges every four weeks. Each month Beaufort gets 8 to 10 fresh units of blood. 

Beaufort and his Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity brothers started hosting blood drives in South Carolina a few years ago. 

He said most of the donors at the events are Black, and they try to host the drives in predominantly Black neighborhoods to spread awareness of the disease and the need for more Black donors. 

“I don’t think people understand that you can have a car accident or something can happen to you, and if you don’t have a match you may be in trouble,” Beaufort said. 

The American Red Cross is hosting a blood drive at the Port City HBCU Reunion Weekend event in North Charleston on July 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be held at the Arabian Temple. 

For more information on sickle cell disease visit www.cdc.gov and www.redcrossblood.org to find a donation site near you.