Jourdan Dunn has admitted she got a reality check when her son was diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia.
The 24-year-old model’s four-year-old child Riley was born with the condition – in which there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells in the body to carry adequate oxygen – but she was shocked when doctors discovered he had the disease when he was just six-months-old.
She told Vogue magazine: "I knew there was a possibility that I was carrying a sickle cell baby because both his dad and I have the trait. But of course, I always had it in my head, ‘No, not my baby. That’s not going to happen to me.’ "
Jourdan designed a Cell for Gratitude necklace with brand Tuleste to raise funds for the charity SCDAA (Sickle Cell Disease Association of America) and recently threw a star-studded party at New York Fashion Week to raise awareness, where guests included her close pals Cara Delevingne, Rihanna and Karlie Kloss.
She said: "I was so overwhelmed by it all. Before a model, I am a mother. Now, I do my job for Riley."
Jourdan Dunn shocked by son’s illness
