Shamar, my son, is fun-loving with a passionate heart to care for others. He is the middle child of our family with a smile that lights up any room. His personality gravitates towards his siblings & close friends to have a great bond. Shamar is a high school graduate & first-year college student. He achieved graduating high school as an EKG Tech. He wants to be Radiologist to help other children with children with chronic diseases.

Shamar was born with sickle cell disease, an inherited lifelong hemoglobin disease that causes difficulty for red blood cells to transport oxygen throughout the body. The complication presents with a wide range of disease severity including acute and chronic complications, pain, widespread organ damage, and the risk of early mortality.

Our family has watched Shamar endure health challenges going in and out of the hospital for complications of sickle cell disease. At one time, Shamar was a hospital home-bound student for two years unable to attend regular school with peers until his health permitted.

Despite health challenges, Shamar displays an unstoppable and encouraging attitude to achieve his goals and live his best life doing things he enjoys. Shamar is currently seeking to have a bone marrow transplant (BMT) to live sickle cell free!

Our family learned that Shamar’s 11-year-old brother, Sheldon was a 100 percent match. Such matches occur only 25 percent of the time. Sheldon being a full match is a blessing that filled our hearts with much joy. Sheldon has a close bond with Shamar and feels good about being a part of the process that will lead to Shamar’s cure.

Shamar is scheduled to be admitted to the hospital on March 9 2023 for the transplant. The procedure, treatment, and recovery from the transplant will take approximately 1 year.

Shamar’s treatment process requires us to be away from our home for an estimated 3 months and complete further follow up appointments. As a requirement, he must remain close to the BMT treatment hospital which is very far from our home. As his mother, I will be his caregiver throughout the process and be by his bedside. This will result in our family having less income, but more expenses managing to live away from our home to include transportation, housing maintenance bills, food, childcare, other auxiliary expenses, etc.

Your donation will help to alleviate some of the financial burden our family will endure over the year. We understand this process of a curative therapy such as a BMT, takes a village of support. Thank You in advance for your financial donation, words of encouragement, & prayers. I am praying for our community of warriors as I wish for a universal cure for all.