sicklecellanemia

Having a child be diagnosed with an autoimmune condition is a devistating life event for any parent. It can be hard to know where to turn, what information is the most important to learn about the disease, and above all, how to help your child feel like a regular kid. 

We are so blessed to have Chiquita Wright on today's episode of The Music For The Soul Podcast. Chiquita shares her story of having her daughter, Chanell Wright, diagnosed with sickle cell disease and how she unfortunately passed at the age of 7. She explains what the symptoms of the disease are, why it is such a significant disease, and what parents can do to find help for their child.

She also talks about how she walked through the pain of losing her daughter and how it lead to her working with Steve to write the song "Save a Child."

Who is Chiquita Wright?

Chiquita Wright is the CEO and Founder of The Chanell Wright "Save A Child" Foundation.  Chiquita has 20 years of financial/banking experience. She has worked for a Fortune 500 company for 14 years & received a certification in Non-Profit Management from Rollins College. She has been married to Tony Wright for 16 years and they have a daughter Cherrish Wright.

Resources:

Our listeners can learn more about Chiquita's work, resources for those diagnosed with sickle cell disease and donate to the Chanell Wright Foundation at the link here: https://www.chanellwrightfoundation.org/

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Music for the Soul Podcast! If you haven't already, please leave us a five star rating and review wherever you get this podcast. We are so grateful to bring you this powerful story and many more like it in the future.

On today's podcast, we're going to talk with Carissa Hunter about advocacy for families with sickle cell anemia.

After her daughter was born with a blood disorder called sickle cell anemia, Carissa started on a quest for healthy living and is now an intuitive womb worker— a holistic practitioner with many specialties in holistic healthcare. Specializing specifically in intuitive healing, ancestral lineage healing, energy, and sound healing, Carissa also is experienced in medical herbalism, and aromatherapy and she also practices as a stillbirth, birth, and bereavement doula. 

We will talk about Carissa’s personal experience growing up with the sickle cell trait (one copy of the gene), as well as being a parent to a child with sickle cell anemia (two copies of the gene). We also talk about Carissa’s experience with unlearning and relearning many things around sickle cell anemia and her advocacy work to raise awareness about this blood disorder.

Content warning: we mention issues with sickle anemia, traumatic birth experiences, high-risk pregnancy, and pregnancy termination due to genetic conditions.

RESOURCES:

Learn more about Carissa Hunter here (https://www.healingjourneyintuitive.com). Follow Carissa on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/healingjourneyintuitively). 

Learn more about the Sickle Cell Foundation of Tallahassee here (https://sicklecellfoundation.org/tag/tallahassee/). 

Learn more about the Sickle Cell Foundation and find a chapter near your here (https://www.sicklecelldisease.org/).

For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EvidenceBasedBirth/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ebbirth/), and Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/ebbirth/). Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/). Find an EBB Instructor here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/find-an-instructor-parents/), and click here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/childbirth-class/) to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

In this episode, Katie interviews Lisa, mom to Riley. Sweet Riley is a spunky and sweet two-year-old living with Sickle Cell Anemia. 

Lisa talks about how they knew it would be a possibility while she was pregnant due to the trait being passed down, but they had hoped and prayed to avoid it like they did with their first born, a son who is now nine years old.

She says that she can handle the frequent trips to the ER, but watching her daughter in pain is a feeling no mother should have to experience. Lisa attributes prayer, family, and educating herself helps her cope with the realities of her daughter's condition.

If you'd like to follow along with Lisa, you can find her on Instagram at @thelisasykes.

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