Sickle cell disease — how one Black family is coping with the illness and inspiring others along the way

NFL player Tevin Coleman and his wife, Akilah, share family activities with their daughter Nazaneen and son Nezerah. The family is among thousands affected by sickle cell disease. (Marco Riganoti, on behalf of Real Chemistry)

NFL running back Tevin Coleman, a Tinley Park native and former Oak Forest High School football star, had no idea growing up why he passed out twice from the heat during his childhood Little League practices.

The reason was finally discovered following a medical diagnosis when he was an All-American running back at Indiana University at Bloomington: he had inherited the sickle cell gene.