[Our Sickle Cell Story] My son has Hemoglobin SS. I never knew I carried the SC trait until I was pregnant with Pharaoh and I definitely didn't know his father did either. When both parents have the trait there is a 25% your child will get the full-blown disease. I worried about it a lot when I was pregnant. You don't know if your child has the disease until they are a year old because up until that time they are still carrying the mothers hemoglobin and the test results are not accurate. I found out Pharaoh's diagnosis in the worst way(The Dr. had terrible bedside manners) A short time after he turned 1yrs he was very lethargic his body very limp and I rushed him to the ER( he was actually in the ER the day before) so they had his blood results in the system. When the doctor came into the room she said verbatim "his blood levels drop drastically compared to the other day, but that's what happens when you have SC" I was like he has what? And after that life changed again for us in so many ways because this was the 3rd chronic illness he was diagnosed with by the age of 1. Motherhood took on new meaning as I took on a caregiver's role. #thisisus We are wiser and more resilient because of it all. _ _ _ From that experience, I realized how important it is to know your partner's medical history beyond STD's. But I often wonder how many couples talk about genetics or go to genetic counseling? And if they do and they find out that if they decide to have kids that the child would be at risk of inheriting a genetic disease, do they take that risk or what? That's a hard conversation. _ _ #sickleawareness #resilience #relationshipclarity #singleparentcaregiver #sicklewarriors #breakthesicklecycle #findacure #endsicklecell #Repost @sicklecell101 (@get_repost) ・・・ What type of #sicklecell disease were you or a loved one diagnosed with? How do you describe your severity? The most common types of sickle cell disease (SCD) are sickle cell anemia (hgb SS), sickle c disease (hgb SC) and sickle beta #thalassemia (hgb Sβ+/0). There are other types of abnormal hemoglobin genes that can be paired with the sickle gene to result in SCD. #sicklecell101 #sicklecelleducation https://www.instagram.com/p/BnO9Nu7nh6k/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=k42bo4c944ec