KMBC 9: Kansas City mom honored for sickle cell advocacy and organizing lifesaving blood drives
A Kansas City mother is being honored during Black History Month for turning her family’s personal struggle into a mission that is saving lives across the community.
Sheena Anderson received the Dr. Charles Drew Lifesaver Award from the Community Blood Center for her advocacy work supporting people living with sickle cell disease.
Anderson became an advocate after her 12-year-old son was diagnosed with sickle cell disease.
Since then, she has organized multiple blood drives, including one in Grandview last September, to help patients who depend on regular blood transfusions to survive.
Doctors say Anderson’s efforts have helped increase access to safer and more compatible blood for patients with sickle cell disease.
“Her efforts made a ripple effect in the community providing safer and more blood supply to individuals with sickle cell disease including children in our own program,” said Dr. Shabnam Arsiwala, director of the Sickle Cell Disease Program at Children’s Mercy.
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