{"id":186878,"date":"2022-06-16T12:14:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T16:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=186878"},"modified":"2022-06-16T12:29:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T16:29:28","slug":"baby-dream-comes-true-for-sickle-cell-patient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/06\/baby-dream-comes-true-for-sickle-cell-patient\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Dream Comes True for Sickle Cell Patient"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daisha Dillon, 31, of Manchester is overjoyed to be six months pregnant and expecting her first baby to be born this September.<\/p>\n

But soon after her own birth she started her daily battle with sickle cell disease and the countless severe pain episodes that come with the inherited condition causing her red blood cells to be abnormally sickle-shaped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pain I experience from sickle cell is shocking and feels like someone is stabbing you, abruptly and repeatedly,\u201d says Dillon. \u201cOne of the stigma\u2019s for sickle cell patients like me is I was told my whole life I can\u2019t have kids. It will just be too painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

But together UConn Health and Dillon are striking out this misconception.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Daisha Dillon.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUConn has really helped me to turn the tides and overcome barriers to motherhood,\u201d happily shares Dillon. \u201cSickle cell does not define me or me as a person. There\u2019s more to me than sickle cell!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dillon, who is expecting a baby girl, was diagnosed with the painful condition when she was just 6 months old when her first pain crisis struck her leading her Mom to take her to a local emergency room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had sickle cell disease my whole life,\u201d says Dillon who at age 18 transitioned slowly from Connecticut Children\u2019s pediatric sickle cell care program to the adult comprehensive care program at the New England Sickle Cell Institute at UConn John Dempsey Hospital led by Dr. Biree Andemariam. \u201cUConn came up with my adult treatment plan and has always made me feel extremely confident in their care. My patient experience has been wonderful! They treat me with respect, allow me to make my care decisions, and also manage not only my sickle cell care needs but other conditions I face too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Navigating pregnancy with sickle cell disease is one of these challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis my first baby and I never would want anything to hurt my baby such as the pain medication I need to take for my sickle cell pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dillon says UConn Health has been with her every step of the way in her journey to motherhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am having a baby girl. I am so confident in my care team at UConn Health from sickle cell disease to pregnancy,\u201d says Dillon who is also being cared for by OB\/GYN Dr. Richard Wagner of the UConn Health Women\u2019s Center.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Daisha Dillon.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Plus, Dillon is especially grateful to the Institute\u2019s Dr. Genice Nelson: \u201cDr. Nelson is one of the people in my corner the entire time giving me not only medical\u00a0advice\u00a0but life advice as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dillon\u2019s advice to other young women living with sickle cell disease dreaming of motherhood is to trust yourself and your medical team to make your motherhood dreams come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever give up,\u201d says Dillon. \u201cOnly you can write your future and set your goals. Sickle cell is just a disease, nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dillon adds: \u201cI am not the first person with sickle cell disease to have a child, and I won\u2019t be the last!\u201d<\/p>\n

She is also hoping a cure comes along someday for sickle cell disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we can raise more awareness of sickle cell disease, and with greater awareness comes more advances in care. I do pray there will be a cure someday so we all can have long lives, careers, and the stigmas of sickle cell disease stops.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Dillon loves everyone who cares for her at UConn Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI trust UConn Health with me and also my baby. They take care of me like family,\u201d stresses Dillon. \u201cIf I am in pain or don\u2019t feel well I can always call and they call me right back. They really care.\u201d<\/p>\n

UConn Health has also significantly improved Dillon\u2019s disease and quality of life.<\/p>\n

To manage her pain crises prior to pregnancy, Dillon started taking the new once-a-month IV sickle cell drug Adakeo at UConn Health\u2019s outpatient New England Sickle Cell Institute. The medication has helped her drastically reduce her monthly pain episodes and hospitalization needs. The medication works by targeting a protein to prevent her misshaped red blood cells from becoming sticky and blocking her blood vessel blockages which lead to her sickle cell pain.<\/p>\n

Dillon also shared a big hope for her soon-to-be born daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest hope for my baby girl is that she grows up to be big and strong \u2013 and is a healthy, healthy baby!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 19 celebrates World Sickle Cell Day. Sickle cell patient Daisha Dillon shares her pregnancy success story and how her UConn Health care teams have been with her every step of the way in her journey to motherhood. \u201cI trust UConn Health with me and also my baby. They take care of me like family.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":187208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,2295],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-186878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-womens-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 07:50:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186878"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187216,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186878\/revisions\/187216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/187208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186878"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=186878"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=186878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}