12% of all African Americans are affected by the sickle cell trait.

1% of blood donors are African American.

Dr. Kyle Mack, a Parker parent and a pediatric hematologist at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, has spent his adult life working towards a solution for this problem. “I frequently go out into the community to recruit people of African descent to donate blood, primarily for my sickle cell patients.”

Generally, according to Mack, patients receiving blood donations from members of their own ethnic groups tend to do better in the recovery process. “Most donors tend to be older, and caucasian, Mack said, “and we’re trying to add to that, improving the number of African Americans and young people donating blood.”

The reason for the disparity in donors is rooted in history, according to Mack. “The low percentage of African Americans contributing to the bone marrow pool is largely because many aren’t approached with the opportunity,” he said. “There are also, of course, many examples of historical instances involving medical research and African Americans that are unsavory, and have lasting effects to this day.”

Mack’s primary initiative works to ensure that blood made by donors of African American descent is eventually given to sickle cell patients. His program is called the “Blue Tie Tag” Program, and designates units donated in any Red-Cross blood drive for sickle cell patients.

Sickle cell patients ––most frequently but not always, as treatment varies case by case––require one blood injection each month. “There’s certain conditions that sickle cell patients have where they need to get blood,” Mack said. “We are trying to make that process more seamless, and less problematic.”

Mack has seen many cases where blood from a donor of similar ethnic group has yielded better results than a donor from a different group. “There’s some physiological reasons why we need that––it helps extend red blood cell life, and is safer overall.”

Mack presented his work and ideas to the student body on Friday, September 28th. “I am here educating, but also recruiting people to donate blood for our patients,” Mack said. “I welcome anyone who’s interested in donating blood for any myriad of purposes. Specifically, I want to encourage as many African Americans and young people as possible to donate blood for our sickle cell patients. We want students to donate. This is an advocacy project.”

For Upper School biology teacher Kara Schupp, Mack’s presentation was inspiring. “It was very exciting to see someone in the community speaking to the students about something that connected to the biology content in the Upper School. And not only that: on the human level, the relation to Parker’s mission to be a part of the community was great. To encourage and challenge us to share the news about blood drives or be a part of the blood drives, if your age permits, is really powerful.”

Parker will be holding two blood drives this year: one on Tuesday, October 23rd, and the next on Wednesday, March 6th.

Many in the crowd were inspired by Mack’s words. “I was unaware of how necessary it is for members of the African American community to give blood before Dr. Mack’s MX,” junior Allan Bennett said. “Giving blood isn’t something that ever crossed my mind before the MX. But now that I am educated on the subject I am looking forward to doing so and helping as many people as I can.”

On average, Mack uses 80-100 units of blood per month.

Mack’s father inspired him to become a hematologist. “My parents both are educators; my father has his bachelor’s master’s and PHD. He couldn’t afford to go to medical school, and instead he earned a PHD in genetics, and was interested in sickle cell disease. When I was growing up, all of my science fair projects were on sickle cell disease.”

As he delved deeper into the field of hematology as an adult, Mack became interested in the racial and ethnic inequalities, specifically with sickle cell treatment. “The University of Pennsylvania’s similar program inspired me to start mine,” he said. “We flew to their city, interacted with their program, and sort of figured out how we could implement something similar in our own city.”

For Mack, giving blood lines up perfectly with Parker’s mission. “I would love for Parker students to embrace the ideas of being citizens and community members through blood donation,” he said. “This is just one extremely important way of improving the lives of others within your community.”