CHOP’s First In-person Cure Sickle Cell Walk & Family Fun Day Raises More Than $173,000 for Sickle Cell Research and Care

On a beautiful Saturday in June, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) hosted the first in-person Cure Sickle Cell Walk & Family Fun Day at Citizens Bank Park raising more than $173,000 to support CHOP’s large and comprehensive sickle cell program!

The morning was full of fun activities like arts and crafts, face painting, dancing, cheering and celebrating sickle cell warriors and their families. The event, which included a ceremonial walk to honor those with sickle cell, aimed to bring awareness to the disease and fundraise for research and patient care, critical to finding a cure.

During the event program, Dr. Alexis Thompson, Chief of the Division of Hematology, noted: “I couldn’t be more excited about the dedication of the care providers at CHOP, from the hospital and clinics, to the office including those that conduct research in our labs. There are breakthroughs happening every day at CHOP and some of the progress in sickle cell is incredibly exciting. Events like this inspire us - they inspire to come to work and to work hard to find a cure. So remember, if there are times you don’t feel seen, for people like our team, you matter.”

Presently, the only treatment for this chronic, inherited disease is bone marrow transplantation, which is so limited that relatively few procedures are completed. CHOP researchers are on the cusp of a history-making breakthrough: a potentially curative gene therapy that can bring healthy bone marrow into the blood cells. Support from this event will bring us one step closer to making this innovative research a reality and better the lives of children living with sickle cell now and in the future.

To find out more about the walk and family fun day, visit chopsicklecellwalk.org. To learn more about CHOP’s Sickle Cell Center, go to www.chop.edu/centers-programs/sickle-cell-center.