Continuing the Fight for Awareness

Advocacy

&

Purpose

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Advocacy & Purpose 🎗️💜

Apr 7 Issue

Dear Whitney, …

Dear Future Me,

I hope as you read this, you are standing taller, your voice reaching even further than it does today. I hope that the battles you’ve fought for sickle cell warriors, for disability rights, and for equitable healthcare have paved new paths for those who will come after you. Right now, advocacy is a daily fight—one that demands resilience, education, and an unwavering belief in change.

My Journey to Advocacy

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My Journey to Advocacy 🧡

I didn’t choose advocacy. It chose me.

As a sickle cell warrior, I’ve spent my life navigating a healthcare system that often fails to see us, hear us, and serve us. The pain, the ER visits, the exhaustion of explaining my condition over and over—it was never just my battle. It was a shared experience among countless others who deserved better. And when I lost my sister, Raven, at just 24 years old, the fire within me ignited into something unshakable: a commitment to ensure that no other family endures preventable loss due to neglect and misinformation.

I founded Red Stick Sickle Cell to be a voice for warriors like us. I launched Warriors Speak Out to create a platform for education, awareness, and storytelling. I partnered with organizations like Sick Cells, Honeycomb Health, the Sickle Cell Consortium, and Rare Patient Voice to build bridges and push for policy change. Every step in this journey has been intentional, built on the foundation of lived experiences and the urgent need for reform. Future me, have we shattered more barriers? Have we secured more protections? Have we ensured that warriors no longer have to beg for the care they deserve?

To those reading this now

—where do you see yourself in five years when it comes to advocacy? What do you want to have changed?

Drop a comment, let’s manifest the future together.