My cousin Lilian has Sickle Cell disease which is very debilitating to her body. She frequently suffers from a Sickle Cell crisis which leaves her body in unbearable pain and difficulty to breathe. The crisis brings different life threatening issues. Recently, she was admitted to hospital due to blood clots in her lungs. Last year, 2025, she was admitted to the hospital five times, with each stay lasting one to three weeks. Lilian has been approved for Bone-Marrow Transplant at Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto. This treatment offers real hope for a better quality of life and long-term healing. Please help bring her donor to Canada to save Lilian from constant pain.

Lilian has been living with sickle cell disease her entire life. Through all her health challenges, she remains a lovely, educated 29-year-old woman with a Masters in Geography and working with Ontario Public Service. She is resilient, hard working and always hopeful.

Fortunately, her biological sister, who lives in Ghana, has been identified as her donor. She is willing and ready to help Lilian through this process. She will also serve as Lilian’s primary caregiver during the year-long treatment and recovery. However, bringing Lilian’s sister to Canada has become a major obstacle due to the costs involved, especially given Lilian’s current financial situation after months of missed work.

We are humbly asking for financial support to help cover the expenses required to bring Lilian’s sister to Canada to donate for this critical Bone-Marrow Transplant. Your support will go toward travel, accommodation, and basic living costs during the year long treatment period.

Any donation, no matter how small, and even sharing this page, would mean more to us than we can express. This treatment represents hope—not just for her health, but for a future with fewer hospital visits and more time truly living and helping others.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness, support, and prayers.

I asked Lilian to describe living with Sickle Cell disease and the pain she endures:

“Here are some of the complications I’ve gone through — in my real, lived experience:

Hyperhemolysis & Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia

There were moments where my immune system began destroying not just transfused blood — but even my own red blood cells. My hemoglobin dropped to dangerously low levels. I felt weak, dizzy, breathless — like life was draining out of me. And because my body was attacking the blood itself, treatment became incredibly risky.

RBC Allo-Antibodies (Anti-C & Anti-S) & a Warm Autoantibody

Because of past transfusions, my body has developed antibodies that react to most donor blood. So when I desperately need blood during emergencies, it’s now extremely difficult — sometimes almost impossible — to find safe matches. Every crisis becomes a terrifying race against time.

Recurrent Vaso-Occlusive Episodes (VOE)

These are my “pain crises” — but calling them pain doesn’t fully describe it. It feels like my bones are being crushed from the inside. The pain is so intense that I often cannot move, speak, or breathe without help. These episodes send me to the hospital again and again.

Recurrent Acute Chest Syndrome (ACS)

More than once, my lungs have become inflamed and filled with fluid — making it suddenly hard to breathe. My oxygen drops. My chest tightens. It feels like drowning internally. This complication can be fatal, and I live with the fear that it could happen again.

Pulmonary Embolism (Blood Clots in My Lungs)

I developed blood clots in my lungs — a life-threatening emergency. I remember the fear of every breath, not knowing if my lungs would keep working.

Pulmonary Stenosis

The arteries leading to my lungs are narrowed, making breathing harder and putting pressure on my heart — even when I’m simply resting.

Delirium During Hospitalization

During severe illness, there were moments when I became confused and mentally disoriented. Losing awareness — even temporarily — was deeply frightening.

There were nights I lay in a hospital bed praying just to wake up the next morning.

There were days I wondered how much more my body could take.

And because I spent so much time in the hospital, I went months without pay — adding financial stress during one of the darkest seasons of my life.”

Thanks again for your support in Bone-Marrow Transplant for Lilian Nyarko.

Sincerely,

Belinda Dei