Nivia is a full-time Howard U. student, content creator, Girl Boss, and sickle cell advocate. On her best days she finds time to get it all done while receiving her treatment!
Propped up on a reclining hospital bed, tubes are sending her blood through a machine running nearby. The staff tending to her treatment are laughing with her as she tries to hold still while also chatting in FaceTime with colleagues about a documentary she is helping create about sickle cell. This is Nivia Charles, full-time university student, public speaker, campaign model and social media content creator, and future real estate developer. This 28-year-old woman has a lot going on…and she is also managing an excruciating condition, sickle cell disease.
“Things can be challenging and can feel impossible,” says Nivia when reflecting on life with sickle cell. “But it’s something I live with and even thrive with…I can’t be 100 percent positive all the time but I can be optimistic more often than not.”
Calvanay Nunley is proud to call herself a mother and a sickle cell patient advocate
“I have really depended on blood transfusions my whole life,” says Calvanay Nunley. “If we didn’t have donors, I don’t know where I would be.”
Calvanay has relied on donors since she began receiving blood transfusions at the age of five. Blood transfusions are an important part of her treatment for sickle cell disease, the most common genetic blood disorder in the U.S. Sickle cell disease distorts soft and round red blood cells and turns them hard and crescent shaped. As a result, blood has difficulty flowing smoothly and carrying oxygen to the rest of the body, which may lead to severe pain, tissue and organ damage, anemia, and even strokes.
Without regular red blood cell exchanges every three weeks – known as apheresis – Calvanay might not be able to call herself a mother, nurse, children’s camp director, non-profit founder and sickle cell patient advocate. “I wear many hats,” she says.
“When patients come in, they automatically trust you when they see the Red Cross,” says Justin Nast, M.D., about the logo that is on his name tag. His American Red Cross badge identifies Dr. Nast as a volunteer flight surgeon entrusted with the care of U.S. Air Force aviators.
How did Dr. Nast become a Red Cross volunteer flight surgeon? Interestingly, he didn’t start his medical career planning to be a flight surgeon. In fact, he was an obstetrics and gynecology resident when he was recruited by the Air Force. (An ob/gyn is the medical specialty that encompasses pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, and the health of the female reproductive system.) After joining the armed forces, he spent eight years delivering babies and caring for the health of enlisted service women.
When the hospital he was stationed at in Germany was closing, he launched into a new career: aerospace medicine. Dr. Nast says it’s a growing branch of medicine.
Dr. Justin Nast is part of a unique partnership between the American Red Cross and the U.S. Air Force.Dr. Nast supports the Air Force as a civilian, by volunteering through the Red Cross in the same role in which he served while on active duty – that of a flight medicine physician.American Red Cross volunteers Dr. Dan Canlas and Dr. Justin Nast at Travis Air Force Base.Read more
When U.S. Air Force service member James “Eric” Bermudez received an urgent phone call from the American Red Cross notifying him of a family emergency back home, he had no way of knowing that it was one of many encounters that he would have with the Red Cross while he served. Even after retiring from the Air Force, his relationship with the Red Cross would continue, as he would take on a vital volunteer role.
That phone call came while he was an enlisted medical technician. “The Red Cross called me at my duty station. I was at work, and they called and said we want to put you in touch with your mother; she needs to talk to you,” says (now) Dr. Bermudez (who went on to become an officer and physician in the Air Force, after graduating from medical school). The Red Cross has a unique relationship with the armed forces, which includes helping service members connect with their families during times of emergency. So, on that day, the Red Cross tracked down Dr. Bermudez so that he could talk to his family.
Dr. Bermudez enjoys serving and giving back to the U.S. Air Force community as a civilian Red Cross flight medicine physician volunteer (Photo courtesy of Dr. Bermudez)Flight medicine clinic at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base, site of a unique partnership between the Red Cross and U.S. Air Force (Photo courtesy of Roderick Tapnio)From left – Col Alexei Kambalov, with Red Crossers Dr. Dan Canlas, Dr. Justin Nast, Alzinia Pailin, Aerial Chen, at David Grant Medical Center (Photo courtesy of Roderick Tapnio)Read more
Can you imagine how eager a sports fan would be to hang out with their favorite team for the weekend? That’s how Dan Canlas, MD, retired Lt. Col. of the U.S. Air Force, describes his volunteer role for the American Red Cross. He is keen to spend his free time hanging out with his team of aircrew and operational personnel!
His role as a volunteer flight surgeon is part of a partnership the Red Cross has with the David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in California. Dr. Canlas and his fellow Red Cross colleagues volunteer their time and medical expertise at the flight medicine clinic, treating the aircrew and other military members involved in the flying mission.
From left – Red Crossers Aerial Chen, Alzinia Pailin, Dr. Justin Nast, Dr. Dan Canlas, with Col Alexei Kambalov at the flight medicine clinic at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base, site of a unique partnership between the American Red Cross and U.S. Air Force. (Photo by Roderick Tapnio)Read more
Baby Ripley needed blood transfusions to recover from open heart surgery.
“He was turning blue when he was crying,” recalls Hayes Shair, about his son. Baby Ripley needed open heart surgery but he was only a newborn.
Ripley’s parents knew before he was born that he had a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. It was identified during his mom’s 20-week ultrasound. But they didn’t expect the operation to happen so fast. Ripley was rushed into open heart surgery at just 30 days old.
“The speed at which it had to be done was unexpected,” Hayes says.
Unfortunately, baby Ripley’s situation is not rare. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart defects affect nearly 1% of births, or about 40,000 babies, each year in the United States. Congenital heart defects affect how blood flows through the heart and out to the rest of the body. Babies with critical heart defects need surgery or other procedures in the first year of life.
After the surgery to repair the hole between his heart’s left and right ventricles, baby Ripley needed multiple blood transfusions to recover. He stayed in hospital for about two weeks.
But you wouldn’t know it today! An active 8-year-old now, he gets checkups every year but is cleared to do regular kid activities.
Ripley is a healthy and active 8-year-old now.
“He’s a handful, but he’s a fun handful!” says Hayes, a father of two.
Hayes was so thankful for the lifesaving blood his son received that he decided he wanted to donate himself. With some encouragement from his wife (a long-time blood donor), Hayes gave blood for the first time more than four years ago. Now a regular, he gives blood to the American Red Cross every two months.
He says it’s a positive experience, “It feels good. People here are very friendly.”
The Red Cross appreciates blood donors like Hayes, who have learned through personal experience how important blood donations are to saving the lives of children like Ripley. Thank you, Hayes and all our regular blood donors!
If you too are inspired by Baby Ripley to donate lifesaving blood or platelets, make your appointment at redcrossblood.org today!
Your Red Cross Update 