It’s a Miracle! Bone Marrow Transplant Saves Twin Brother’s Life

Saxton (l) with twin brother Sawyer (r), a sickle cell disease patient at the Aflac Cancer (Photo credit: Aflac) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 365 Black American babies will have sickle cell disease. By comparison, only 1 in about 14,000 Hispanic Americans will have the condition. There are ways to manage sickle cell disease but severe symptoms can significantly affect a child’s quality of life. Currently, the only way to cure sickle cell disease is through a bone marrow transplant and that’s how Saxton saved his brother, Sawyer.  Sawyer and Saxton’s Story Babies who have sickle cell disease can present symptoms within five to six months. However, depending on which form of the disease they have, they can have health issues much earlier. Those who have the HbSC form of the disease may not see symptoms until their preteen or teen years while the children with HbSS can show severe symptoms within a week or two of birth.  It’s this form of sickle cell disease that led Sawyer’s mother to bring him to the doctor for assessment when he was only a couple of weeks old. At the young age of three weeks...