Philly doctors worried about a ‘lost generation’ of sickle-cell patients
Patients with sickle-cell disease are living longer and a cure could be around the corner. Why doctors in Philadelphia worry those adult patients might be left behind.
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Tahirah Austin, who has sickle-cell disease, plays with Kinza, the son of a friend who also has the disease. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
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It used to be that when you were diagnosed with sickle-cell disease, you weren’t expected to live past your twenties. Now, treatments have advanced and a cure for the blood disease could be around the corner. WHYY’s Dana Bate explains why doctors in Philadelphia worry those adult patients might be left behind, creating what she calls a “lost generation.”
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