My Story as a Doctor & Sickle Cell Warrior: “We Are Resilient”

Photo courtesy of Dr. Marjorie Dejoie-Brewer We often hear early diagnosis is the key to getting effective treatment and improving prognosis. But what happens when the timing of your diagnosis is out of your control? Newborn screening for both sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait is paramount for early diagnosis. Today, they are performed in all U.S. states. But once upon a time, this wasn’t a normal procedure, which has led to many sickle cell patients being diagnosed later in life. This was the case for Dr. Marjorie Dejoie-Brewer, who learned she had sickle cell disease during her second year of medical school after the director of minority affairs mentioned that her symptoms resembled sickle cell. “She said, ‘You know what? Your symptoms sound like sickle cell disease. We have one of the leading sickle cell pediatricians at CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia).’ So, I attended the University of Pennsylvania Medical School – and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is basically on the same campus, though they're considered two different hospitals. And because she knew pediatrician Dr. Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, she was able to give him a call and say you know ‘we have a student…these are her symptoms, it really...