Who can get sickle cell anaemia?
Some people are more likely to get sickle cell anaemia than others. It depends on where you come from. If you are from the Mediterranean, Africa or the Middle East, you are more likely to get sickle cell anaemia. What does it mean? If you have sickle cell anaemia, the haemoglobin in your red blood cells isn’t normal. Haemoglobin carries oxygen around your body and gives your blood the red colour. It also holds the red blood cells in shape. Normal red blood cells are doughnut-shaped. But if you have sickle cell anaemia they are like crescents, or curved shaped. This is how the illness got its name because the red blood cells are shaped like a sickle (an old-fashioned tool which farmers use). Red blood cells are very important because they carry oxygen around our body. The problem with sickle cells is that they do not live as long as normal red blood cells. This means there aren’t as many in your blood stream, which can make you anaemic. People with anaemia can get tired very easily and
