VCU news

By Eric Peters

The VCU Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and the James Farrior Foundation team for the second annual Tackle Sickle Cell Anemia Gala on Saturday, March 9, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Westin Hotel, 6631 W. Broad St.

In addition to former Pittsburgh Steeler James Farrior, this year’s event will feature several other current or former NFL players. Those who have been invited include Willie Parker, Aaron Brooks, Anthony Poindexter, Maurice Anderson, Byron Thweatt and William Henderson.

Activities will include a silent auction, casino games, heavy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.

Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit the adult and pediatric sickle cell programs at VCU Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. The event will offer attendees the opportunity join the bone marrow registry. A bone marrow transplant is the only known cure for sickle cell disease.

VCU is the only pediatric bone marrow transplant site in the state of Virginia that offers this life-saving cure to its patients, and expanding the bone marrow registry will make this cure more widely available to sickle cell patients around the country.

“James and I are thrilled to team up with VCU again to support the medical center’s sickle cell research and treatment programs and to once again expand the bone marrow registry so people across the country can benefit,” said Matt Farrior, vice president of the Farrior Foundation. “And it is always an honor to give back to the Richmond community.”

Matt and his brother, James, attended Matoaca High School in the Richmond area, where VCU cares for more than 900 children and adults from throughout Central Virginia with sickle cell disease, a chronic, inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells. People with the disease, which is also sometimes called sickle cell anemia, experience periodic, often unexpected episodes of intense pain.

“Having a child with a chronic illness places the entire family under stress,” said Dr. India Sisler, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. “Our program has a dedicated sickle cell social worker, educational consultant, psychologist and child life specialist in addition to a world class medical team, so we are able to support the patient and their entire family as they navigate through this disease. Fundraisers like this and the awareness the Farrior Foundation brings to sickle cell disease helps make that support possible.”