Triplets with sickle cell anemia

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/nyregion/in-a-full-household-raising-triplets-with-sickle-cell-anemia.html
In a househeld more then half are inflicted with a rare disease, sickle cell anemia

Half of Pauline Mercurius’s kids, her triplet daughters, Amoy, Jamoy and Tamoy, 12, have sickle cell anemia. (She has three older children who live with them.) People with the disease have red blood cells abnormally shaped like sickles. The disorder deprives tissues of sufficient oxygen. The number of times that Ms. Mercurius’s triplets have required hospitalization has been nearly uncountable. As a result, the staff members at Jacobi Medical Center, where her daughters receive treatment, have become like their second family.

Last summer, the triplets were admitted, for three overlapping stays, to Jacobi Medical Center, and this came with severe financial consequences. Since moving to the Bronx from Jamaica in 2008, Ms. Mercurius had been employed as a home health aide. For the past three years, she was employed by Utopia Home Care, where she once earned about $1,200 a month. With her daughters’ needs, including the hospitalizations and follow-up appointments, taking up more of her time, she found it hard to manage clients. She left her job in July, then fell behind in her rent and accumulated $530 in overdue Consolidated Edison bills.

This is a picture of the Mercurius family

 

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001554/ This site here would be your all to know information about sickle cell, its symptoms, and anything else you might ever need!

In addition to her daughters’ health problems, Ms. Mercurius has been dealing with the needs of her father, who has prostate cancer. He has repeatedly checked in and out of Montefiore Medical Center in recent months. Ms. Mercurius recalls chaotic times during the summer when she had to leave one hospital to go to another, putting her in a state so frenzied at times, she could not remember her phone number.

 

My idea to do this was simply because I wanted to show how devasting an incredibly rare disease can be. This family is tight but not doing very well because of the disease and just that. My opinion is that the organizations should give more relief to families that truly need it and not waste it on people who abuse the system.