Larenz Tate on Sickle Cell Disease

The actor wants people to know how serious the disease is and why it's important to get screened.

September is Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month, and for actor Larenz Tate, that means spreading the word about a chronic disease that disproportionately affects the African-American community.

"It's really important to know if you carry the disease," says Tate, 36, who recently costarred on FX's Rescue Me and in BET's made-for-TV movie Gun Hill, which premieres this fall.

Thrombocytopenia

Thrombocytopenia is an abnormally low number of platelets in the blood. Platelets are the blood cells responsible for helping blood to clot. Most thrombocytopenia causes no major problems, but severe thrombocytopenia may result in excessive bleeding. Many medical conditions and drugs can cause thrombocytopenia. Platelets are very small blood cell fragments, a fraction of the size of a red blood cell. Platelets circulate in the bloodstream and gather together at sites of bleeding. There, platelets...

Read the Thrombocytopenia article > >

As many as 100,000 people in the United States have the disease, which causes red blood cells to resemble sickles or crescents. The misshapen cells can reduce blood flow, which starves vital organs of oxygen and can lead to chronic fatigue and intense pain.

Many people who don't have the disease carry a gene for it. Screening is essential, a message Tate will spread this month via Facebook and Twitter (@LarenzTate). "If you can prevent the disease, you can really make a difference in someone's life," says Tate.

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