Sickle cell fundraiser Mark Yancy knows disease firsthand

Inside story profile for The Commercial Appeal

May 31, 2010

To sit across from Mark Yancy, you wouldn’t realize he is in pain. Chances are good, however, that he is.

“I try not to think about it, but I’m in pain every day in some type of way,” he said. “You just get used to it and you deal with it.”

And to sit and talk with him, you might not realize that the 32-year-old is not a medical professional trained in the debilitating effects of sickle cell disease on the human body. Yet having been diagnosed with the disease at 11 months old, Yancy understands it all too clearly.

“Education is paramount,” he said. “There’s not a gizmo or piece of surgical equipment that does wonders for sickle cell, it’s simply having that knowledge of how to effect this disease.” … (read more)