A big thanks to those of you who took the time to sign the petition and pass the word around! We reached over 100,000 signatures by Oct 22nd and the petition remains open and the number of signatures continues to rise.

Tionne Watkins (T-Boz) as well as a couple other celebrities, such as Kevin Hart, who posted a YouTube clip, encouraged people to sign the petition. The last time I checked, there were 123,211 signatures.

The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America asks that people continue to sign the petition to show through the numbers how much this matters! Therefore, if you have yet to take the three minutes to sign the petition the opportunity still awaits you!

September was National Sickle Cell Awareness Month. But for those of us who have SCD, there is not just one month of soldiering through it. SCD and the plethora of complications do not relegate themselves to any selected time period. You are born with SCD and except for the small percentage of individuals who have fortunately received successful bone marrow transplants, you die with it. Please sign the petition and spread sickle cell awareness.

Here’s the background info. Petition H.R. 5124: Sickle Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act of 2014 is a bill pending to get the Sickle Cell Treatment Reauthorization Act pushed forward to approve funding for an improved sickle cell initiative. (Detailed in my previous post).

Your online signature is needed and can still make a big difference in its ultimate failure or success. A total of 100,000 signatures are needed. Initially, we got 14,810 signatures, and the numbers are slowly increasing. Presently we need as many as we can get. That means we need each of you to reach as many people as you can to build up supporters who sign the petition.

First, please sign it. The following five steps make it very easy to be counted in.
1) Click here to visit the Inspiring More Minds website and click on the picture link of the White House labeled petition, or just click here.
2) Type in your name, e-mail address and zip code.
3) Press “submit.”
4) You will receive a verification sent to your e-mail.
5) Open the verification e-mail and confirm.

That’s it. This can be completed in three to five minutes. After you sign the petition, ask those you know to follow suit.

Below are some proactive suggestions:
Write an email to your family, friends and email network to solicit their support. You can copy and paste the link.
Post a message with the link on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Make sure the message and the link is included in announcements in your place of worship! 
Request that your co-workers take a moment to sign up.

Or think of a multitude of other creative ways to get the necessary signatures. We still need your help now--right now. Although we got the 100,000 required signatures, if you didn’t sign, please do so now. Every single signature counts!

In my next blog post, I will tell you all about the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America convention I attended.

Be well! Be wonderful!
ÂÂÂ