Stories of Sickle Cell: Videos

“Kids with sickle cell disease can miss an incredible amount of school” | Stories of Sickle Cell: Dr. Lauren Smith

She shares about the real-life consequences of missed school experienced by those living with sickle cell disease (SCD) due to health complications.

“I started doing pageants because of sickle cell” | Stories of Sickle Cell: Ayana

Ayana: I start doing pageants I want to say when I was 12. So I haven’t been doing them for that long, but I started just because of sickle cell and I wanted to advocate for it.

“I’m constantly learning myself” | Stories of Sickle Cell: Constance

Sickle cell disease was once Constance’s identity. She is learning to navigate life without pain after being cured by a bone marrow transplant.

“They did not give me the same care…” | Stories of Sickle Cell: Tristan

Tristan is an accomplished actor, fashion designer, and advocate of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) SCD community. Tristan shares his experiences of receiving care as a gay man living with SCD.

I realized that I needed to talk to my daughter about her illness” | Stories of Sickle Cell: Elle

Elle Cole is a mom to fraternal twin girls, one of whom has sickle cell disease (SCD). Elle is the author of “ABC’s of Sickle Cell Disease” and many other children’s books about SCD.

“I was deprived of a lot of normal childhood activities” | Stories of Sickle Cell: Mimi

Mimi is an attorney currently living in Sydney, Australia. She shares about growing up with sickle cell disease, which often led her to miss out on many childhood activities.

“We have a ton of studies that show bias” | Stories of Sickle Cell: Dr. Wally Smith

Dr. Wally Smith, a sickle cell disease expert, shares about barriers to pain management of the blood disorder.