About

P.O. Box 18144 River Rouge MI 48218
Madison Holland is a 12-year-old girl who was diagnosed with sickle-cell disease at birth. She has had pain episodes and hospital emergency room visits with over night stays since she was two years old. In 2008 the clinic she visits for treatment began a study for children to measure the results of children getting blood transfusions vs those taking the drug hydroxyurea and those just being monitored with TCD (trans cranial doppler) exams and MRI’s. We tried to enter the study, but Madi didn’t qualify for the study because her TCD reading was too high. There is a blockage in one of the blood vessels going to her brain resulting in high velocity blood flow to that area and silent infarct stroke. Her hematologist told me she could see small lesions on her brain. So, the good part is, because of the tests we know first that Madi has at some point had a silent infarct stroke. And second, she is at risk of having another one.

So, there we began our TCD and MRI regimen. Every six months she had an MRI and every six months she had a TCD exam plus her regular quarterly check ups. Being a single mom, I became stressed. I worked in the automotive industry in a manufacturing plant which was very demanding and unsympathetic to what I was facing. Being let go from that position was a welcome relief for that reason.

When her doctor told me the plan of action, she said, “Madison will have to begin having blood transfusions every two weeks.” I said, “For how long?” She said, “For ever” like she was telling me to go fill a prescription. I’m still heart-broken. I don’t want to plan the rest of my life around blood transfusions and I don’t want her to either. I want her to have a long healthy life that includes college, marriage and children.

Thus, The Madison Holland Foundation was born. We will raise money to help find a cure for sickle-cell and we will solicit the social work and medical community to advocate for our adult patients to be treated with dignity and respect when seeking help in emergency rooms. That’s it. That’s all I want.