sickle

In the 1960s in North Carolina, Adams and her family would take her sister Linda, who had sickle cell anemia, to the emergency room because they had no doctor and could not afford health insurance.

One handout was a sticker for “CNN” where the “C” was replaced with a “hammer and sickle.”

Young donors are urged to come forward, especially those with O negative blood type, and more donors of black heritage are also being sought to help treat patients with sickle cell disease.

Take, for example, new gene-editing treatments for children with sickle cell disease.

Negotiations are still under way to see if the same therapy can be used on the NHS for another genetic disease affecting haemoglobin - sickle cell anaemia.