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Carissa Page has battled sickle cell since birth
Young patient is optimistic about her future
Sickle cell disease is a really terrible disease, said Dr. Daniel Pettee, D.O., a board-certified pediatric hematologist/oncologist affiliated with Akron Children’s Hospital.
He’ll get no argument from Carissa Desirea Page, 20, of Warren, who has suffered the pain and frustration associated with sickle cell.
She has been in the hospital numerous times since her birth in 1994 when she was diagnosed with the disease.
Sickle cell disease, also known as sickle cell anemia, primarily affects blacks, but is not exclusive to African-Americans, Dr. Pettee said.
Carissa said both of her parents, Margaret Durr of Girard, who is white, and Zack Page of Warren, who is black, have the sickle cell trait.
Both parents must have the trait to produce a child with sickle cell disease.
Durr, whose great-grandmother was Cherokee Indian, said she had no idea she had the trait until her daughter was diagnosed.
“The pattern of sickle cell disease worldwide mirrors that of malaria endemic regions. There is no specific association scientifically proven, though we suspect they are related,” Dr. Pettee said.
Carissa, who has the trait, recently got her first job working at Dunkin’ Donuts on Elm Road Northeast in Warren.
She was 7 when she first noticed pain in her joints.
“It can cause blood clots. When I start having pain, I go to the hospital,” she said.
Sickle cell is an inherited form of anemia, a condition in which there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen throughout one’s body, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
Normally, red blood cells are flexible and round, moving easily through blood vessels. In sickle cell anemia, the red blood cells become rigid and sticky and are shaped like sickles or crescent moons. These irregularly shaped cells can get stuck in small blood vessels, which can slow or block blood flow and oxygen to parts of the body, and cause severe
pain, called a “crisis.”
September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month and Akron Children’s Hospital, where Carissa has been a patient, has resources for churches and organizations to use to promote awareness and understanding, Dr. Pettee said.
Carissa, a 2014 graduate of Girard High School, has tried to do all the things she wanted to in spite of the debilitating disease.
“It has affected my life. I’ve had to miss a lot of school and activities I love,” she said.
Carissa said when she was younger she was a cheerleader and participated in track and basketball and was in the marching band for several years.
When basketball became too much for her, the coach appointed her a team manager.
“It’s difficult to sit there and watch your child in a lot of pain and not be able to do much about it but pray,” Durr said.
“Carissa is taking better care of herself, taking her medications and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She’s a very responsible, strong young lady. She makes me proud,” Durr added.
In Ohio, all babies are screened for more than 30 metabolic and genetic disorders and inherited disease, of which sickle cell is one, Dr. Pettee said.
“The primary reason to catch sickle cell early is to prevent infection. Sickle cell patients all undergo ‘functional asplenia’ [absence of spleen function] related to sickle cell damage resulting in immune deficiency,” Dr. Pettee said.
Carissa believes she has a positive future.
“I want to work as a chef or in the medical field. That’s my plan,” she said. “There is a reason I have a job. I gave my life to God. Whatever He wants.”