By Michael Kinney
Photo of Putnam City West assistant girls basketball coach Allen Russell
Allen Russell remembers exactly where he was the first time it happened.
While his mother tells him he had other episodes, he has vivid memories of the moment he understood what type of impact sickle cell anemia was going to have on his life.
“I was a sophomore at Lawton High, coming back from a football scrimmage at Mustang. I was sitting on a bus and out of nowhere, my heart just starts racing pretty bad,” Russell recounted. “I just started hurting bad all over, never experienced anything like that before.
“When I got to the hospital, my heart was beating like 180 beats per minute. Then my body was just in so much pain. I will never forget my coaches at the time were trying to keep me calm on the bus. I was just so scared and I thought was about to die; I mean, it was the worst, the scariest time of my life.”
From that moment on, Russell’s life has been a constant battle to contain the effects of the sickle cell disease. While it has not been easy, the 36-year old Putnam City West assistant girls basketball coach now wants to help others who have to endure the same issues.
Sickle cell anemia is one of a group of disorders known as sickle cell disease (SCD). It’s an inherited red blood cell disorder in which there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout your body.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sickle cell disease affects approximately 100,000 Americans and occurs among about 1 out of every 365 African-American births. The CDC also says about 1 in 13 Black babies are born with the sickle cell trait.
It’s a lifelong disease that can be a load to carry financially as well. A study in 2015 estimated the average cost per patient a month is at $1,389, with a lifetime cost of care of approximately $460,000 per patient with SCD.
While sickle cell disease can be cured in some patients with bone marrow transplants, sickle cell anemia has no cure. But there are treatments to relieve the pain.
“I go every four to six weeks to do what they call a blood replacement,” Russell said. “What they do is they take out bad blood and replace it with good blood. So, it helps me feel a lot better.
“After my treatments, I have a lot more energy because it’s a lot more red blood cells that are normal cells, that they are replacing the sickle cells with.”
In October of 2020, Russell helped create the Sick of Sickle Cell (S.O.S) Foundation with fellow coaches Lenny Bert, Marques Warrior and Jessie Brown. The non-profit foundation is aiming to bring awareness to a disease that has gone unnoticed in most mainstream communities, according to Russell.
“I started it because it’s something that I deal with every day. Having sickle cell anemia, sickle cell disease, just being in pain all the time,” Russell said. “You don’t hear about it like you hear about cancer or stuff like that. It’s something that affects the African-American community way too much.
“So, why not start something that could help people by just bringing awareness to that?”
Russell believed the best way he can do that is by what he knows best. So he created the annual Sick of Sickle Cell (SOS) High School Showcase. Now in its third year, the showcase is drawing some of the top teams from all classes in the state.
This year, the SOS Showcase is set for Friday and Saturday at Putnam City West High School. Games start at 2 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.
A total of 12 games are scheduled over the two-day period. Girls and boys teams from across Oklahoma are scheduled to compete. They include Del City (boys, girls), Putnam City West (B, G), Choctaw (B), Tulsa Central (B, G), Millwood (G), Bishop McGuiness (G) and Classen SAS (B, G).
There are also other teams scheduled to compete in RW Goines Stem Academy (B) from Arlington, Texas, and Immanuel Lutheran Christian Academy National (B) from Broken Arrow.
Proceeds from the showcase will go to the Sick of Sickle organization, which is dedicated to improving the social health and quality of life for children, adults and families living with Sickle Cell.
That includes Russell handing out two scholarships each year to students who have been diagnosed with the disease or are caregivers for family members who have it.
“I just want people to be aware of what people with sickle cell anemia go through every day,” Russell said. “How they are treated when they go to the hospital from doctors or even nurses, because they think that you just want drugs or something like that.
“But you are actually in a lot of pain, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
According to Russell, last year the event raised more than $10,000. This year, they have a chance to double that after a large donation from Hampton Homes in Oklahoma City.
“We want to definitely grow the basketball tournament. It allows us to talk to more people and let them know what sickle cell is,” Russell said. “And just bring them or give them an awareness of how it affects the community.”
