Omahans give blood, raise awareness of sickle cell disease

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Nobel Prize-winning technology offers a potential cure for sickle cell disease.

Simply put, doctors can edit a patient’s genes to alter blood cells. But this gene editing technology is in its early stages and costs millions of dollars.

Now, blood transfusions help prevent serious complications of the disease, and people are rolling up their sleeves in Omaha to give much-needed donations.

Audrey Smith has donated blood before.

And she’s at the Storz Pavilion on the Nebraska Medicine campus to donate during National Sickle Cell Awareness Month.

For her, it’s personal.

“I know firsthand. I’ve taken care of sickle cell patients, and I know the importance of blood to them. It’s not something they chose, it’s something they were born into,” she said.

Audrey knows matc