Living With Strength Through Sickle Cell Disease
- Singer Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkin, of the iconic girl group TLC, lives with sickle cell disease, which causes her debilitating pain.
- Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder, meaning the condition is passed down from parents to their children.
- The disease can cause issues with blood flow, leading to intense pain, organ damage, infections, and other symptoms.
- Treatment options for SCD include medicine to decrease the number of sicle cells in the blood, pain management medications, blood transfusions, and bone marrow transplants.
- A support group is important for people battling a disease to help them cope with the emotions of their journey.
Singer Tionne Watkins, 53, may be better known by her stage name "T-Boz" from the iconic and influential 1990s music trio "TLC.” However, behind the scenes of her fame, the award-winning artist has been living with a blood disorder that leaves her in debilitating pain.
Diagnosed as a child with sickle cell disease, doctors told her she wouldn’t live past 30.
Read More
View this post on Instagram
"Early on, it wasn't managed at all," Watkins said of her disease.
"That's why I ruined every tour and got sick every time," the singer added.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder, meaning the condition is passed down from parents to their children. It impacts more than "100,000 people" in the U.S. according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
“The easiest way to describe it is oxygen isn’t getting to our vital organs,” Watkins explained to ABC News of her condition.
“So, if it’s your legs, you can’t walk. Your arms, you can’t even hold a pencil and write…I went through so much,” Watkins added.
After touring, Watkins said she would spend months in the hospital recovering. As she grew more accustomed to life on the road performing, she also learned how to manage her condition.
She said she now has a massage therapist traveling with her for massage therapy. She also avoided high-altitude cities like Denver for tours, because high altitudes can lower oxygen saturation in the blood.
Watkins credits her mom for helping her push through the tough painful episodes sickle cell can bring about.
"She basically was telling me I could do anything that I set my mind to, and she was supporting me as long as I tried to be the best of whatever it was that I chose to be in life," Watkins said.
View this post on Instagram
Watkins’ health journey also involved a benign brain tumor in 2006. According to BlackDoctor, an African American health and wellness magazine, she underwent a "seven-hour surgical procedure."
The singer kept the diagnosis private until 2010 while filming the reality business competition show “Celebrity Apprentice.”
A strong support system is a key theme many people battling a cancer or disease come to find out. SurvivorNet experts stress the value of a support system often made up of family, friends, or people battling a similar health condition.
During an interview with CNN, Watkins also revealed doctors had told her she would never be able to have children. But she went on to have a beautiful baby girl in 2000 and a little boy in 2016. She has found a sense of strength in kids.
"You don't want your kids to know you think you might die. I don't want my daughter or son to feel my pain," she said.
"I've got to keep a normal face on."
What Is Sickle Cell Disease?
Sickle cell disease is a group of blood disorders that can cause issues with circulation, leading to intense pain and organ damage.
In the U.S., most people affected by sickle cell disease are diagnosed with the genetic disorder shortly after birth because newborns are usually tested for sickle cell disease.
"The primary problem with this disease is an abnormal hemoglobin," Dr. Sophie Lanzkron, Director of the Sickle Cell Center for Adults at Johns Hopkins, tells SurvivorNet.
Hemoglobin protein in the red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body.
WATCH: Treating Sickle Cell Disease
"The hemoglobin molecules and the red cells stick together and when they stick together, they form this polymer, this stiff thing inside the red cells that's what causes the red cell to change its shape," Dr. Lanzkron continues.
Normal red blood cells are round, but in sickle cell patients, the red blood cells are shaped like a "C, or a sickle farm tool (hence, the name).
The change in shape affects the circulation of these critical red blood cells, meaning proper oxygen does not reach tissues. The result of this process can mean excruciating pain and organ damage for patients, among other symptoms.
Some treatment for sickle cell disease depends on the severity of your symptoms, according to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Options include:
- Pain medication
- Blood transfusions help patients with low red blood cell count.
- Infection-fighting medicines like penicillin
- Medications that prevent the sickling of red blood cells. These medicines may come with side effects such as headache, diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, and fever.
- Over-the-counter medicines exist to help manage the side effects.
"A blood and bone marrow transplant is currently the only cure for some patients,” according to the NHLBI.
Power of Support
During Watkins’ sickle cell journey, she was able to rely on her mom to help her emotionally. Other key players in Watkins' support group included fellow bandmates Thomas and the late Lopes.
Lopes died in a car accident in 2002.
Whenever the singer needed to slow down on touring to improve her health, Thomas and Lopes supported her.
View this post on Instagram
It's important for people battling a disease or cancer to know they have a strong support group behind them. It helps alleviate anxiety and depression as the challenges of the disease become more intense over time.
Expert Sickle Cell Disease Information
Dr. Shelly Tworoger, a researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center told SurvivorNet that "there's a number of common things cancer patients can experience, such as anxiety, depression, financial toxicity, social isolation."
Knowing you have loved ones by your side at every step helps you process those emotions and cope with your new reality during your journey.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
