“Sickle Cell Couldn’t Define Me”: A Family’s Fight for a Cure Leads to a Medical Breakthrough

12-year-old Kendric Cromer. Advocating for your child’s health can mean the difference between managing symptoms and finally seeking to cure his or her disease. Deborah Cromer is all too familiar, and her child was first in line for a new treatment seeking to cure sickle cell disease. This past May, her 12-year-old son, Kendric received his first treatment of LYFGENIA, a gene therapy that would help his body rebuild more robust blood cells. Kendric went into his treatment with trepidation, uncertain of what life would look like on the other side. He recalls, “I didn’t know what life would be like without sickle cell. I didn’t know if I wanted the treatment, but I couldn’t let sickle cell define me as a person.” Sickle cell disease is a hereditary condition that impacts the hemoglobin, the part of the red blood cell that carries oxygen. Instead of being plump and robust, red blood cells end up in a sickle shape. These cells don’t adequately carry oxygen throughout the body, which affects every major system. Sickle cell disease mostly impacts people of African descent worldwide. In the US, 1 in 13 Black people are born with the sickle cell trait. Of those...