Celebrate the Cure Reunites Patients Cured of Sickle Cell Disease and Caregivers at Hackensack University Medical Center

Honoring Sickle Cell Awareness Month, Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health event celebrates more than 80 patients cured

In September 2024, Hackensack University Medical Center hosted Celebrate the Cure, a reunion event bringing together patients cured of sickle cell disease, their families and medical caregivers.

Hackensack Meridian Health is currently the only healthcare network in the state that offers two types of curative therapies for adults and children with sickle cell disease: bone marrow transplant and gene therapy, both offered by the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital and the Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy team at the John Theurer Cancer Center.

Since 2002, more than 80 patients, most of them children, have been cured of sickle cell disease by undergoing stem cell transplant, and most recently gene therapy curative treatments on the Hackensack University Medical Center campus. In 2019, the campus became the first in the state to offer clinical trials for curative gene therapy treatments.

The Celebrate the Cure event featured remarks from Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health expert pioneers, as well as Folu Okunseinde whose son, Tobi, was cured of sickle cell disease, and a keynote address by former NFL player Devin McCourty.

While this event celebrates an important milestone–the advent of curative treatments—more awareness is needed. Statistics show that sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder, currently affects more than 5,000 children in New Jersey, yet only a handful are cured each year despite available treatments.

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