Bone marrow transplant eliminates teen's sickle cell pain.

Byline: Patricia Anstett

DETROIT _ Albert Binyard is only 14 but he already has been hospitalized 75 times for sickle cell disease.

Nothing much worked _ none of the medicines the doctors tried or years of weekly blood transfusions. He's had a series of mini strokes, many bouts of pneumonia and a life filled with the worst kind of chronic pain.

But in the past eight months, Albert's health has been improving almost miraculously since he underwent a bone marrow transplant.

He's one of at least 51 pediatric patients considered cured of sickle cell disease after a transplant from a sibling donor.

"He has had no pain attacks and no sickle cell-related problems at all," says his mother, Jacqueline Binyard of Detroit. "My son's life has changed tremendously."

Two of the eight Binyard children have sickle cell disease, Albert and Cheri, 18. Her case is less severe than Albert's, but …