Maya Rockeymoore Cummings: The suffering of sickle cell disease

Early in my life, I saw first-hand the terrible impact sickle cell disease had on my loved ones. This disease causes chronic, severe pain and lowers life expectancy by up to three decades. Those with it also very often suffer from vision problems, a high risk of stroke, kidney disease, frequent infections, and anemia. Today there are too few treatments for sickle cell, but new gene therapies in clinical trials offer the promise of a cure someday soon.