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=Introduction= toc

Cars are everywhere you go on roads, bridges and highways. They have to travel fast to get to one place to the next. We can easily say that they are apart of our everyday. Similar to this, red blood cells have to travel through your body fast, at a rate of 3 feet per second. You can’t live without red blood cells. Furthermore, the red blood cells function is to bring oxygen from one place to the next and they have to do this fast to keep the human body function (Padilla et al 92). However, the red blood cell can’t do this job without the fascinating pinched down jelly donut structure of the red blood cell. Most importantly, there are positives to having red blood cells, but then there is the nightmare disease called the sickle cell disease.

**The Job of the Red Blood** ** Cell **

Did you know that the red blood cell is one of the most important cells in the body? You wouldn’t be able to live without the cell. Therefore, you can thank its job for keeping you alive. First, the red blood cells pick up oxygen with hemoglobin. Next, the red blood cell brings oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. Finally, we bring the oxygen up and down our body to breathe daily. We need the oxygen to burn our sugars in our body so we can produce the energy we need (“Why Do We Need Oxygen to Live?” 1:32). There is special molecule that is in the red blood cell that helps it do its function. That molecule is called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the molecule that makes the oxygen stick to the red blood cell. Lastly, the red blood cell moves around the body and brings oxygen daily to the body to keep you functioning.(“Hemoglobin”) By the oxygen moving around in the body all day, that helps with making you not feel pain and short of breath from oxygen not being transported.Furthermore, the red blood cells function is helped by the structure of the red blood cell.

media type="youtube" key="LM_CgtFORzw" width="398" height="226" =Structure of the Red Blood Cell=

Imagine a jelly donut with a pinched in middle flowing throughout your body. That’s what a red blood cells structure is but it’s just not tasty. This pinched in shape helps the function of your body by making it so easy to twist and bend throughout your body (Padilla et al 92). The flexibility depends on how well the red blood cells can flow throughout the body. If you are a gymnast or a dancer, the flexibility that you have can depend how good you are because if you are more flexible, you can usually do more skills. Furthermore, the red blood cell does not contain a nucleus, even though the white blood cell does. The white blood cell also is like a big fuzzy white ball, however the red blood cell is smoothe (“The Difference Between Red Blood Cells and White Blood Cells”). Additionally, the hemoglobin not only helps with the function of the red blood cell, but also the structure. Hemoglobin makes the red blood cell the bright red and not dark red. Without hemoglobin it would be dark red and that’s what would becoming out of your skin when you get a cut. However, the structure of the red blood cell is different for other people that have a disease called the sickle cell.

=Harmful Red Blood Cells in Your **Body**=

In almost any object you use or anything you do there is an pros and cons about it. For instance, if you do sports you can get injured, or with gasoline you can fill up your gas tank for your vehicle but it can also cause fires. Likewise, this is the same issue as red blood cells and how they can have the disease called the sickle cell disease. This happens because the cell doesn’t have the normal hemoglobin (hemoglobin A), you have the hemoglobin S. Most red blood cells look like a pressed down jelly donut which is the normal structure. On the other hand, a sickle cell looks like a crescent moon which is where it gets the name. The structure of the sickle cell is not a good thing for the human body. When the sickle cell is shaped like a crescent moon, the cell is harder to move around the body and most likely will block blood vessels which can lead to a stroke (“Sickle Cell Disease”). On the contrary, the red blood cell is a pinched in donut shape which makes the job easier in moving around the body. The sickle disease is harmful to the body for this very reason. Many people have to overcome the sickle cell disease, just like Helen Keller who stated, "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."(“ 21 Inspiring Quotes to Reignite the Sickle Cell WARRIOR Inside of You”) This shows that you can overcome the disease even in hard times.

=Conclusion=

Your life is being pulled away slowly as blackness starts to overcome your vision… but then you realize that it was just a nightmare since you have your red blood cells taking care of you. Your red blood cells are one of the most important cells in your body. It’s the cell that keeps your body functioning by transporting the oxygen that you need to live throughout your body. Additionally, this is helped by the structure of the red blood cell that helps the job by twisting and bending and making it easier to move through the body. Unfortunately, there’s the horrific sickle cell disease that will over take your body, the red blood will still do its job and help you during this disease to keep the body alive and doing well.Just remember that you can thank your body for keeping you alive in this magnificent world that changes everyday one step at a time.

=References=

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