And so there will be a decrease in the number of red blood cells found inside our body. And this is known as anemia. And that's exactly why we call this condition sickle cell anemia. The sickle cells simply don't live as long as the normal cells, and so they eventually die at a quicker rate. And that leads to anemia, a lower blood count, a lower red blood cell count. Now, the question is, what exactly is the abnormality in the hemoglobin molecule?