5-year-old girl donates blood to save brother with sickle cell anemia

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) – A 6-year-old boy named Adedunmade Odedina loves reading maps, watching traffic patterns and learning about the weather forecast. Adedunmade wasn’t going to let his sickle cell diagnosis get to him.

But the disease can be deadly. It affects the shape of red blood cells, which can cause pain and damage to the body’s organs.

“You have to go to the emergency room when you have this pain crisis,” said Halimat Odedina, Adedunmade’s mom.

Halimat said she and her husband had a conversation with their five-year-old daughter, Aderire. They found out from doctors she’s a match for her brother’s bone marrow transplant, which is the only cure for her son’s disease.

The little girl decided she would help her big brother and give him blood.

“She was not scared because she really loves her brother,” said Halimat.

Aderire was unfazed by the whole procedure – which took more than four hours.

“Even though I was telling her not to go to school today, maybe she is experiencing some aches, she said, ‘No,’ she just wants to go back to school,” said Halimat.

Aderire’s brother is in the hospital now receiving the bone marrow transplant. He’s expected to be just fine.

“I let her know, you’re doing something really big for your brother,” said Halimat.

Adedunmade will remain in the hospital for another 4-6 weeks, and after that he’s able to go home and play with his sister again.

If you would like to help, their GoFundMe page has more information.

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