Woman with sickle cell disease celebrates 80th birthday, defying life expectancy odds by decades

Share

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali. 
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC
African Peoples Before Captivity
Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie
Kidnapped: The Middle Passage
Image of the first black members of Congress
Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom
The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200
One Hundred Years of Jim Crow
Civil Rights protest in Alabama
I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice
Black Lives Matter movement
NOW: Free At Last?
#15-Beitler photo best TF reduced size
Memorial to the Victims of Lynching
hands raised black background
The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall
Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville
Special Exhibits

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Ways to Support ABHM?

By Fredlyn Pierre Louis, NBC News

Patricia McGill is among the oldest people in the U.S. with sickle cell disease, and she attributes her longevity to optimism, faith, a supportive community and good nutrition.

Patricia McGill as a young child, left, and holding her grandchild (Courtesy Patricia McGill).

When Patricia McGill was 13 and learning that she had inherited sickle cell disease, she did not think she would reach 30.

But now she and her family are celebrating McGill’s 80th year. 

McGill is one of the nation’s oldest people with sickle cell disease, living decades past age 52, the life expectancy of someone with the disease, which has a disproportionate effect on Black people. 

Born and raised in Houston, McGill was diagnosed with sickle cell disease after years of mysterious illnesses. “I was sick a lot, and when I did get sick, it was more serious than if my siblings got the same illness,” McGill said.

Despite her condition, McGill was determined to live life fully. In the 1970s, according to Public Health Reports, life expectancy for people with sickle cell disease was less than 20 years. 

“I decided that if I might only live to about 30, which is what I initially thought, I would do everything I wanted to do,” she said.

In 1963, McGill enrolled in Hampton University in Virginia, 1,300 miles away from home, to study elementary and special education. School was challenging for McGill due to her illness and being so far from home. Even minor colds could escalate into full health crises. 

Still, McGill accomplished two of her goals — she became a teacher and a mother, eventually having three children. For 37 years, she worked with students with learning disabilities, driven by her deep understanding of their struggles.

Continue reading.

Some believe sickle cell has originated in Africa, where the ancestors of many Black Americans lived.

Find more Breaking News here.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.

Leave a Comment