Hundreds turn out for sickle cell awareness march

CAMDEN, N.J. - September marks National Sickle Cell Awareness Month and Rowan University students, physicians and medical residents joined pediatric patients on campus to raise awareness.

"It hurts bad. Really bad," Keila Johnson said. The 10-year-old suffers from sickle cell and is one of more than 100,000 in the country who do battle with the blood disorder. More than 90 percent of those affected are African American, though it affects all races.

Rafat Ahmed is an Associate Professor at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She specializes in the care of sickle cell patients and says the disease is unbelievably painful to live with. "Pain like how a mom, when she gives birth to a baby, the pain she experiences is the same kind of pain."

Saturday, children with sickle cell and their families put their pain aside to march in the 9th Annual Sickle Cell Awareness Walk in a declaration to the disease that it will not keep them down.

For young Keila, she focuses on what brings her joy, "I like to paint and color and something I’ve been getting into recently is LEGOs!"