he illness: fatigue (the sickled blood cells die leaving a less amount of blood cells causing your body to lose oxygen making your body tired;)pain in the bones, swollen hands and feet (mainly in newborns;) jaundice, in African Americans, yellowing of the eyes occurs, infections increase, vision problems caused by blood vessels in the retina becoming sickled, and stunted growth because of the lack of blood cells. When the red blood cells become sickled, it is said to feel like the body is having "mini heart-attacks." When an actual heart attack happens, it is due to the lack of blood flow to the heart. When someone has Sickle Cell Anemia, the site where the blood flow is blocked is where the pain occurs. These painful attacks can cause much damage to any of the organs involved, and can cause other complications within the body. (www.fda.gov/fdac/features/496/sick.htm)
             The main cause of Sickle Cell Anemia is abnormal hemoglobin. Normal hemoglobin is classified as hemoglobin "A", but sickle cell carriers carry hemoglobin "S". Hemoglobin is a vital ingredient for the blood, allowing the blood to contain and carry oxygen. The red blood cell's job is to carry oxygen throughout the body to the tissues and organs. The red blood cells are produced by the bone marrow, the bone marrow being the key to creating new blood cells. (AMA, "Sickle Cell Anemia", 904.)
             Sickle Cell Anemia is believed to have developed in Africa thousands of years ago, around the time when malaria was killing many people. Oddly enough, people who carried the sickle cell trait usually survived the epidemic. The sickled red blood cells made it impossible for the malaria parasite to develop, causing the infected people not to catch malaria. The survivors migrated around the world, married into other cultures, passing on the disease. Now the disease affects millions of people around the world, more commonly the Af...