[Basheera Foggie]

My mom taught me what I know about Sickle Cell. She had Sickle Cell and my dad had Sickle Cell trait so she was more knowledgeable and shared her experiences with me.

[Basheera Foggie]

I deal with feeling like a burden to family and friends by remembering the family and friends that have told me I wasn’t a burden and have treated me like I’m not. This helps me to push away these feelings a little better. I always feel like a burden. However, rebuking these thoughts through truth really helps me to text or call them when I need and want to share my life with them and ask for help and support.

I reassure myself that it’s ok to talk to them by saying aloud that she, he, or they “said that I wasn’t a burden to them,” and I ask myself, “have they ever treated you like you were a burden”? “Okay then”! Having these true and positive thoughts spoken aloud from my mouth separates them from the lies and negative thoughts in my mind so that they can’t attack and overpower them.

I reserve family and friends that have treated me like a burden and have told me I’m a burden (sometimes using synonyms of ‘burden’) for emergencies or when they can understand or relate to SCD more than others. Most importantly, I pray and praise Jesus while also reminding myself that I’ll never be a burden to Him and that he’ll never leave me. Many people have left my life, but He never will.

[Basheera Foggie]

I deal with feeling like a burden to family and friends by remembering the family and friends that have told me I wasn’t a burden and have treated me like I’m not. This helps me to push away these feelings a little better. I always feel like a burden. However, rebuking these thoughts through truth really helps me to text or call them when I need and want to share my life with them and ask for help and support.

I reassure myself that it’s ok to talk to them by saying aloud that she, he, or they “said that I wasn’t a burden to them,” and I ask myself, “have they ever treated you like you were a burden”? “Okay then”! Having these true and positive thoughts spoken aloud from my mouth separates them from the lies and negative thoughts in my mind so that they can’t attack and overpower them.

I reserve family and friends that have treated me like a burden and have told me I’m a burden (sometimes using synonyms of ‘burden’) for emergencies or when they can understand or relate to SCD more than others. Most importantly, I pray and praise Jesus while also reminding myself that I’ll never be a burden to Him and that he’ll never leave me. Many people have left my life, but He never will.