I had to grow up a lot faster than my peers, I learned sacrifice and discipline at a very young age, and most importantly, I learned to be grateful.
Thalassemia is an inherited condition, or more accurately, a group of conditions, which prevent a person’s bone marrow from producing enough healthy red blood cells.
Red blood cells contain a substance called haemoglobin. Haemoglobin carries oxygen in the blood from the lungs to all of the cells in the body to help them work normally.
There are a number of different types of thalassemia . These vary from a very mild form to a severe disease that can be life-threatening if untreated.
Current treatments can usually keep the symptoms under control but often require regular hospital appointments that can disrupt normal life. Unfortunately, they do not treat the underlying cause of thalassemia or prevent it from progressing. New treatment options are currently being investigated and these have the potential to improve the outlook for people with thalassemia .
Making sense of thalassemia >