For Nazhi Forrest, having a Sickle Cell Crisis can only be described as the single most painful sensation she’s ever experienced. As her oxygen levels drop, it becomes hard to breathe. Pinpricks of pain become sharp, stabbing sensations across her whole body.
 
Sickle Cell Disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. In someone who has SCD, the red blood cells become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a “sickle”. The sickle cells die early, which causes a constant shortage of red blood cells. When they travel through small blood vessels, they get stuck and clog the blood flow. This can cause pain and other serious problems such infection, acute chest syndrome and stroke.
 
And though she struggles with the symptoms of Sickle Cell every day, still she bakes. She started baking as a way to create a healthy lifestyle for their family when they had to stop eating processed food for the Sickle Cell diet. It wasn't just Nazhi who lived with the disease, but her two sisters as well.  Nazhi then created her organization, Nazhi Thee Baker Angel Foundation, which raised funds to deliver hundreds of sweet care packages to hospitalized children. 
 
Today, Nazhi’s sister, Shakarra is in crisis. Earlier this month, the 19-year-old suffered her third stroke. It was during that most recent hospitalization that she was diagnosed with Moyamoya Syndrome, which causes cerebral hemorrhagic strokes and aneurysms. This is a rare condition which her medical team in South Florida has been at a loss on how to manage. Shakarra needs specialized care out of state to fix a hole in her heart and blood vessels at the base of her brain. 
 
Nazhi and Shakarra’s parents, Natasha and Ricky, are doing their best to keep life as normal and happy for the family as possible at home for all four of their children. However, due to the care that Shakarra now needs, they’re finding themselves stretched beyond their already heroic limits.
 
It’s their hope that once Shakarra is finally able to get the surgery and care required—that the entire family will be able to be with her, without the financial burden that is sure to follow.
 
With all of the efforts Nazhi, her family, and her foundation have put forth for the Sickle Cell and rare disease community, they’re now in need of support as well. With the current economic climate shaped by COVID, we can all experience  how devastating an unexpected illness can be. For this family, the request for donations does not come lightly. That’s why Brandstar Cares is reaching out on their behalf, to share their story and inspire others to give what they can—whatever it might be, even if it’s just sharing the link to this page. 

#SMILESFORKARRA

Audrey Ajakaye

Stephanie Gordon

Anonymous

Patricia  Sigmon

Knurema Diggs

Bailey Cronin

Robin Walkerwilliams

Treneka Jones

Queena Griffith

Delphine  Kirkland 

Chyenne  Allen

Jennifer Dennison

SEAN DAVIS

Shante  Dickerson 

Kentina Moore

Anna Williams

Tyias Browning

Dilanie RODRIGUEZ

Dee Sarantos

Severely Sick Sickle Cell Sisters

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

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NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

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fund country is US and user language is English

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Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

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Mark Rieth IP Address

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Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

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checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

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Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

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International Only

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braze fundraiser group 

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leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

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Version 9.2.1 and above

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fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

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Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

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UC Tipping v20250107

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

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Native 11.3.0 and above

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New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

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Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

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challenge-fundraisers

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CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Severely Sick Sickle Cell Sisters

Still $21,860 to go. Help us build momentum.