Metro Detroit family celebrates end of 11-year-old’s battle with sickle cell disease Jackson Walker cured after successful bone marrow transplant Tags: BELLEVILLE, Mich. – One Metro Detroit family is celebrating a clean bill of health for their 11-year-old son who has battled sickle cell disease since birth. The journey for 11-year-old Jackson Walker has been difficult one, being diagnosed with sickle cell disease when he was born. “We have been going in and out of the hospital with him,” said Esther Walker, Jackson’s mother. “A day after his fifth birthday, he had his spleen removed.” The Walker family’s lives have been filled with trips in and out of the hospital for the past decade -- but that trend promises to change, thanks to a successful medical procedure.