By: Chloe Oden | Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

E’Anah Coleman of Fort Wayne has had sickle cell disease for more than 16 years.

She was born with the inherited disease, like about 0.27% of Black children, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Sickle cell disease is commonly treated with blood transfusions, but it’s not enough to find a blood type match. Different ethnicities have different antigens in their blood, a news release for Innovative Hematology said.

“I work with adult sickle cell patients and when they’re in a crisis that they need blood transfusions,” said Carlene Heeter, CASCADE program coordinator at Innovative Hematology. “It’s important to have the same type of blood or blood that has antigens that match.”

Having closely matching blood, or blood from the same ethnic background, makes the body less likely to consider the blood to be an agent it wants to attack.

About 90% of people who have the disease are Black or of African descent, the institute says on its website. However, only 0.5% of donated blood in Indiana comes from Black people, the release said.

Innovative Hematology will host a minority blood drive Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Fort Wayne Community Schools Career Academy, formerly the Anthis Career Center, 1200 S. Barr St. in Fort Wayne. Although the event will accept blood donations from anyone eligible, the drive specifically focuses on promoting blood donations from people of color to help fill the gap.

The drive will be hosted in conjunction with Reflections N Glass Corvette Club. Heeter said the event will feature a car show, food trucks and a DJ.

Heeter said the event will have an educational table to teach about the disease and sickle cell traits, which are sickle cell genes from one parent that about 7% of Black children are born with. People with the traits are carriers of the disease but do not experience its symptoms.

Coleman is going into her junior year of high school, likes to make TikTok videos, hang out with friends and play flag football for South Side High School. After graduating, she wants to become a nurse.

“You’re really helping,” Coleman said about people giving donations. “You’re helping people with chronic conditions and making a difference.”

Coleman said sickle cell disease has made her need to be more cautious of the weather than others. Extreme cold and heat can be triggers for a crisis, the Institute says on its website.

“A sickle cell crisis can come on quick, out of nowhere,” she said.

Sickle cell crises are intense episodes of pain caused by blocked blood flow.

For her, this feels like pain in her bones and dizziness. Other symptoms of the disease can include severe pain in other parts of the body, fatigue, fever, chest pain, sudden weakness and more.

“Most people don’t know about sickle cell,” Coleman said. “People my age, they ask what it is, like when my eyes are yellow. I tell them, they’d be like, ‘What’s that?’ and I’d have to explain. So, I think it should get taught more in school.”

The disease can cause jaundice when red blood cells break down.

Heeter said Innovative Hematology’s goal is to educate minority communities about the importance of giving blood, specifically due to stigma surrounding donation.

Many Black people are wary of giving blood or dealing with needles, Heeter said, due to how they’ve historically been treated and tested on.

“That fear passes on,” Heeter said, “generation to generation.”