Patient Stories
I have been a regular platelet donor for about 17 years following my sister’s diagnosis and subsequent death from leukemia. Two of my young grandchildren Kate and Will Boggan (siblings 4 & 6) both had successful bone marrow transplants within their first year of life.
Being a platelet donor is just one small way that I can give back in memory of my sister and in honor of the two selfless bone marrow donors who saved my grandchildren’s lives.
A month after Elijah Cook was born, he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia: an inherited blood disorder that causes normally round and flexible red blood cells to become stiff and crescent-shaped. Sickle cell anemia (also known as sickle cell disease, or SCD) leaves...
George Cretekos leads by example. He has a long history of serving others. For 35 years, George served in both Pinellas County and Washington, D.C. as aide to U.S. Representative C.W. Bill Young. He then continued his service in the Clearwater City Council and now...
Like many disorders, the effects of sickle cell disease can vary widely from patient to patient. For LaDonna Jordan, the painful and life-threatening symptoms associated with sickle cell disease began at age seven. Her father tried to wake her for school, but found...
