2024 SCAFO Sickle Cell Walk for Awareness & Community Marketplace
Register Now for the SCAFO Youth Summer Camp 2024: 3-Night Oregon Coast Beach Trip!
Parents and Guardians: Please click the link to register your youth for The SCAFO Healthy Youth Program Summer Camp August 07-10, 2024.
The SCAFO Healthy Youth Program Summer CampClick here to download our Summer Camp Flyer!
SCAFO Youth: Sign Up Now for the Spring Youth Retreat!
SCAFO’s 2024 Spring Youth Retreat Registration is open!
Dear Parents and guardians:
Please register your youth for the SCAFO Healthy Youth Program Spring Retreat on May 24-25, 2024.
We will be going to His Heart Oasis Retreat Center in Vancouver WA!
There is a pool at the lodge and lots of fun and games!
Registration is first come, first serve, and spots are limited!
SCAFO Youth Spring Retreat 2024
FDA Approves Genetic Treatments for Sickle Cell Disease
PORTLAND — The Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation of Oregon is excited by the news that two types of gene therapy for sickle cell have been approved by the FDA: Casgevy for “gene editing”, and Lyfgenia for “gene addition”.
The SCDAA has called gene therapy “potentially curative“, though, they warn, not everyone may be “eligible for gene therapy.”
Gene therapy involves a complex series of steps, such as:
- sampling and treating the patient’s stem cells;
- a regime of chemotherapy to kill abnormal cells;
- an infusion of the patient’s own cells treated for sickle cell disease.
Patients who undergo such treatments can expect crisis-level episodes to diminish significantly over time as diseased blood cells are naturally replaced by healthy cells.
Candidates for sickle cell gene therapy must be evaluated against the dangerous effects of chemotherapy.
The FDA has approved both Casgevy and Lyfgenia for sickle cell patients ages 12 and up. The treatments are approved for sickle cell phenotypes SS and S-beta-zero.
SCDAA has more information here.
