September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month and in this episode, I chatted with Donor Recruitment Development Officer, Melissa Harvey from ACLT – The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust. Melissa explained about her role within the organisation and talked through what Sickle Cell disorder is and how it affects those diagnosed with what has become the fastest growing inherited genetic condition in the UK.

We talked about the sorts of symptoms you might expect someone with sickle cell to be experiencing and the importance that education and awareness plays, enabling others to act quickly, should someone be experiencing pain and potentially a life-threatening sickle cell crisis.

We talked about ACLT’s short film, One Drop – parts 1 and 2, which you can find on YouTube and the importance of blood donation.

You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R_fI042zrs - part one and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3WQV4XasCw

We also talked about the possibility of a stem cell transplant being part of the treatment pathway for someone with sickle cell disorder.

It is always a pleasure and a privilege to speak with my guests on this podcast and I hope you find this an inspiring listen.

You can find out about signing up about donating blood, stem cells and organ donation from www.aclt.org Please do it today.

You can follow us on Instagram @magical_match_podcast and do get in touch, if you’d like to join me to share your stem cell story.