During her fourth pregnancy, the now mother of five learnt that her four-week-old baby — Aiden-Jon Amir Hall — had sickle cell disease. At the time, she also found out that she, her partner, and their three other children were carriers of the sickle cell trait. Smikle recalled that before Aiden-Jon’s birth, she’d lived next door to a family who also had loved ones with sickle cell disease. Smikle said subsequent checks would later reveal that it was likely her mother who had the sickle cell trait. The full extent of the disease, sickle cell anaemia, occurs when an individual inherits two sickle cell genes.