Arianna Hawkins' Fish Wish

The idea behind Fish Wish is to give sick children from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta a special experience at the Georgia Aquarium.

Still, the joy those children and their families find is sometimes all to brief. Despite the best treatment available, the illnesses take their toll.

"I think the most common presentation of sickle cell disease is the pain the kids have," said Dr. Ifeyinwa Osunkwo of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. "You can't really determine when you're gonna have pain and when you're not gonna have pain, and so it's kind of hard to plan your life."

Whoever planned Arianna Hawkins' life did a lousy job. She was a foster child shortly after birth, diagnosed with sickle cell anemia.

"Sickle cell disease is a chronic illness," said Dr. Osunkwo. "It impacts your life every single day until the day you die, it shortens your lifespan, it causes extreme morbidity, and it can cause mortality as well."

The first good thing to happen to Arianna was her foster parents Victor and Helen Hawkins. Now in their mid-60s, they adopted her and her sister Brianna.

Arianna's sickle cell disease became life threatening. Then the next good thing happened -- she found her missing sister through another foster family. And with the odds at 2-in-100, they matched for a bone marrow transplant.

"She's about a year out of her transplant, and she's doing extremely well," said Dr. Osunkwo. "She no longer has sickle cell disease."

This day, another good thing happened: Arianna and her family went to the Georgia Aquarium, just like normal families do.

"It's been something out of a storybook," said Arianna's mother Helen. "It's been absolutely unbelievable, but I tell you, it's just knowing she's going to have a normal life."

All her life, Arianna Hawkins has had to deal with the pain of sickle cell anemia. What she feels now, is the sensation of a life without it.

On Saturday, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta holds Sickle Cell Education Day at the Loudermilk Center from 9-to-3. The center is locate at 40 Courtland Street in downtown Atlanta.