Year of Achievement

HAPPY SICKLE CELL NEW YEARS’ WARRIOR COMMUNITY!!!

As you all know last month was Sickle Cell Awareness Month and we celebrated the month by Embracing Our Awesome (https://www.facebook.com/notes/sickle-cell-warrior/embrace-your-awesome/10151821719497417) and we decided that just as every culture has its own calendar, we, the Sickle Cell Warriors, would recognize our own calendar as well.  We celebrated our “Sickle Cell Birthday” on World Sickle Cell Day and the end of sickle cell awareness month would wrap up the end of our Sickle Cell Year (https://www.facebook.com/notes/sickle-cell-warrior/at-the-close-of-our-year/10151891194292417).

We have now come to the end of the first month of our New Year and it started with a bang!  Sickle Cell Warriors, Inc. reached, and then surpassed, 9000 likes on our Facebook page!  WOW!  You all are amazing!  Tosin and I are so very grateful to be part of such an amazing and dynamic community!    As of October 31st, 2013, we are now 9,348 Warriors strong, with a total reach of 17,600.  This week alone 3,365 UNIQUE individuals liked, commented, shared, or clicked on a post.  There were a total of 64, 513 post clicks this week (not including likes, comments, or shares).  We are 72% women and 27% of men.  Although almost 40% of us are between the ages of 25 and 34 years, we span the entire spectrum with 1% between 13 and 17 years old and 4% over the age of 65.  If that wasn’t enough, according to our Facebook page demographics, the Warriors on this page represent 45 different countries!  FORTY-FIVE!  Can you believe it?  I am in awe as I type this.  The largest number of Warriors are located in the U.S. (with Atlanta containing the most Warriors, followed by New York, Chicago, and Houston), but over 600 of you log-on from Nigeria and another 400 from the United Kingdom.  Also, Warriors on this page are in Ghana, Kenya, Canada, India, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, France, the Netherlands, and dozens of other countries*.

We, the Sickle Cell Warriors Team, consider ourselves blessed to be counted among the number of such a diverse and phenomenal group.  We are overwhelmed by your strength and humbled by your bravery.  This community has taken root in our lives and sits firmly in our hearts.  So THANK YOU!  Thank you for sharing your stories and your testimonies of strength.  Thank you for lending us your wisdom, trusting us with your concerns, and sharing in our vision.  Thank you for your time, your comments, your posts, your likes, and your donations.  Sickle Cell Warriors, Inc. would not exist were it not for each of you.  Because of you, we are now a nationally recognized non-profit and the largest patient-ran community-based organization for Sickle Cell Disease in the country. THANK YOU.

Last year we set a goal to develop new strategic partnerships and to launch several of our community programs.  We are pleased to announce that we are now working with multiple Mission Partners, Program Partners and Affiliate Organizations, including the International Association of Sickle Cell Disease Nurses and Physician Assistants (IASNAPA), the Huismann Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia, the Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research (FSCDR), and Marrow For Life, Inc.  We are in the process of developing multiple Membership Partners in several local colleges and universities have begun teaching our online Warrior Advocacy, Training class.  We sailed to the Bahamas on our first ever Sickle Cell Community Gathering and Education Symposium aboard Carnival Imagination and this Friday, November 1st, begins our monthly Online Community Meet-up/Support Group, where Warriors all over the county are invited to log-in, dial-up, and join the conversation.   Over the course of the next few months, we are excited to begin introducing our newly appointed Warrior State Ambassadors and Advocate Leaders, as well as the re-launch of our official Sickle Cell Warriors, Inc. YouTube channel.  We have been invited to participate in the Sickle Cell Disease Patient-Focused Drug Development Initiative with both the FDA (http://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/UserFees/PrescriptionDrugUserFee/ucm370867.htm) and Genetic Alliance (www.geneticalliance.org/pfdd).  Tosin has accepted a position as Corporate Liasion with Mast Therapeutics and Lakiea will be working with the Research Advisory Committee for the Foundation of Sickle Cell Disease Research.  All-in-all, it’s going to be a wonderfully busy year – a YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT!

We can’t wait to hear of the blessings and achievements that are coming your way this year. We are so proud of all of you. This community has embraced us, and you inspire us to constantly strive to do more, be better, and make things happen. Strap on your seat belts, because Sickle Cell Warriors are on the precipice of greatness.

Are you ready?