Patrice Rivers Speaks Being A Sickle Cell Disease Advocate & Her Children’s Book
Living a healthy life is most commonly associated with your physical look, however, it’s much deeper than that. Eating cleaner is the new craze but it becomes pointless if there isn’t an understanding of your body and needs. With more and more diseases being discovered it is quite easy for many of them to not be discussed with the masses. We’ve heard of Cancer, Diabetes, and now Covid-19, but Sickle Cell Disease is still not undertood. Although it is a rare disease with less than 200,000 cases per year, it is highly real and affects many people lives every day. I spoke with Author and Survivor Patrice Rivers for an in depth look of what’s it like to be a Sickle Cell Disease advocate.
Ashley Shaunte What prompted you to become a Sickle Cell Disease advocate?
Patrice Rivers What prompted me to become a Sickle Cell Disease advocate is the fact that I have Sickle Cell Disease myself. I am also a survivor of it which I almost died at the age of 12 from a chronic pain crisis in my chest. SCD isn’t educated or talked about enough, so becoming an advocate of it to me means talking about it in interviews, social media, and on my YouTube channel so people can know what this disease is and who it affects.
Ashley Shaunte It’s apparent that you want to inform as many people as you can about this disease but why did you choose to put it in a children’s book?
Patrice Rivers The whole inspiration on why I created the ‘Come Learn with Patricia’ book series in the first place was to talk about a little girl’s journey living with the disease. I wanted to share my personal testimony as a child growing up.
Ashley Shaunte What do you think people don’t understand about Sickle Cell Disease? Why is it important that they know what it is?
Patrice Rivers There are a lot of people who never heard of Sickle Cell Disease before because it’s not educated or talked about in a lot of schools, hospitals, the health industry, or in the communities. A few people that I talked to about SCD were somewhat aware of it but didn’t really know what the disease actually is. It’s important to know about SCD because it affects about 90% of African-Americans and it affects other cultures like India, Puerto Rico, parts of the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabia, and other parts of Africa.
Ashley Shaunte What does the word overcomer mean to you?
Patrice Rivers An overcomer means someone who has been through trials and tribulations and difficult challenges in their life and still remains strong.
You can find more details about Patrice Rivers and purchase her book here linktr.ee/trgbrand
