Every year on World Sickle Cell Day, we talk about awareness. Awareness of pain. Awareness of disparities. Awareness of the need for better treatments and access to care. And those conversations matter deeply. But after years of working in hematology, sitting beside patients during pain crises, hospitalizations, transfusions, fear, frustration, resilience, and survival… I’ve realized there’s another conversation we’re still not having enough: What chronic stress does to a