[Steelers] Santonio Holmes Doesn't Let Sickle Cell Slow Him In Denver

Like Ryan Clark, Santonio Holmes, too, has the sickle-cell trait, which he only discovered this year. Unlike Clark, Holmes played in Denver two years ago without any adverse health problems other than one visiting players experienced for decades in Mile High Stadium. "I just had a lot of trouble breathing when I was up there last time," Holmes said yesterday. "I was in there before the game, I went out and I was trying to catch my breath and I couldn't do it, so I stayed in [the locker room] a little bit longer [before] coming out on the field."

Source: FanNation.com

[hermhater]

Breath is important yo

[cpgobrowns]

On GIF instead of writing a paper on sickle cell anemia. Wierd.

[hermhater]

It's how we roll

[cpgobrowns]

It's like the paper is stalking me

[hermhater]

Really?

I'll ansswer it.

[86WARD]

lol...Holmes doesn't "let it" slow him, but Ryan Clark does?

[CaptainStubing]

you would think with all of our medical advances that they could do something for athletes with this problem when they play in colorado.

[cpgobrowns]

Originally Posted by cpgobrowns

On GIF instead of writing a paper on sickle cell anemia. Wierd.

The disease is genetic. The people who have the defective gene make abnormal red blood cells that don't change shape very easily and tend to clump under low oxygen conditions (playing football in denver). The degree of their ability to play would be based on the severity of their disease. Hard to play at an NFL level when your blood is sludge. The only drug that's really available to treat it is basically an anti-cancer drug and comes with some wicked side effects. Most patients have to come off of it at some point because of bone marrow suppression and abnormal blood counts. The only possible cure is a total bone marrow transplant, which requires a suitable donor and total body irradiation.