This story has been updated to correctly state what facility The Mike and Mary Conley Comprehensive Sickle Cell Clinic name applies to.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Mike Conley is donating $500,000 to the Methodist Healthcare Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center — marking another large contribution to the center by the NBA player.

"Sickle cell is something that doesn’t get the awareness it rightfully deserves, so it's perfect for me to jump on board and try because these patients and these people are really suffering," Conley said after announcing the donation.

Conley helped raise more than $500,000 for the center, whose clinic is now called The Mike and Mary Conley Comprehensive Sickle Cell Clinic, prior to the announcement.

Conley discussed raising awareness for sickle cell disease, which has affected members of his family, in a news conference with Methodist executives on Thursday at Methodist University Hospital, the location of the center.

Mary Conley is Mike Conley's wife and a member of the Methodist Healthcare Foundation’s board of directors. She "guides our fundraising priorities and offers her unique perspective" as a board member, said Paula Jacobson, president of the foundation.

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Center fights disease prominent in Memphis

The center opened in 2012 to provide care for adults and those coming out of pediatric care at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with sickle cell disease.

The center is both a preventative care outpatient clinic and an emergency infusion center for sickle cell patients. It now has 400 adult patients.

“[The donation] will allow us to continue to focus on better clinical care, providing the best clinical care irrespective of someone’s ability to pay,” said Roland Cruickshank, president of Methodist University Hospital.

Methodist says Memphis has one of the largest U.S. populations of adults with sickle cell disease, an inherited red cell blood disorder that can block blood flow and cause frequent pain and other complications for those with it, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2016, Methodist and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced an agreement to advance research and care for Memphis’ adult sickle cell disease patients, along with the expansion of the center itself.

“We can provide that one-stop care here, which is why with the relationship with St. Jude and with [the University of Tennessee Health Science Center], now if you’re a child growing into an adult, we can cover you in one location, one city,” Cruickshank said.

The center also tests new symptom-improving drugs, develops clinical trials and investigates long term outcomes as part of its research into sickle cell disease.

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Conley's connection to sickle cell disease

Conley has two cousins living with sickle cell disease.

“It’s something I had no understanding of as a youngster, even still when I got to the NBA as a 20-year-old, I still didn’t understand what was really going on,” Conley said.

Methodist said it partnered with Conley in 2011 to create a dedicated place to help sickle cell patients, which led to the center's inception.

“Over these years, Mike has grown as a player, as a Memphian and as an advocate for patients with sickle cell disease,” Jacobson said. “He is our strongest partner.”

In 2016, Conley told The Commercial Appeal that sickle cell disease is something he has “always wanted to help out with," and his push to raise awareness continues.

"For me, this means a lot to be able to do something like this," Conley said. "It's small in the grand scheme of things, but it's going to continue to get bigger and bigger."

Max Garland covers FedEx, logistics and health care for The Commercial Appeal. Reach him at max.garland@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-2651 and on Twitter @MaxGarlandTypes.

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