OHIO, USA — Twenty-one-year-old Jasemine Jackson-Winston is a senior studying at Ohio State University. She was born with sickle cell disease.
"It's frustrating. It's hard for me to focus and hard for me to study because of the pain," said Jackson-Winston.
Sickle cell is inherited and mostly affects the black community. Red blood cells are misshapen and get stuck in the blood vessels. It causes pain, organ failure and can lead to an early death.
"It isn't talked about enough and we need to support people who have it," said Jackson-Winston's mother, Judy "J.J" Jackson-Winston.
"I was trying to find a way to explain how it feels, but it's unexplainable. The closest thing I can come to is when you step on a Lego and thinks 'oh crap that hurt!' That's how it feels and how my whole body feels," said Jasemine.
That thought is what sparked the idea to start the #SickleCellLegoChallenge on TikTok in hopes to spread more awareness of the deadly disease.
"I hope it will be similar to the ALS ice bucket challenge. I hope people can gain an understanding and learning about sickle cell disease," said Jasemine.
She says through all the pain, sometimes hospital staff say she is faking her condition in order to receive prescribed pain killers.
"They say, 'you are probably a drug seeker' and all this other stuff," said Jasemine.
But, she says that is not the case. She says sometimes her lab results show she is feeling normal, but her pain is still there. She hopes to use her knowledge and suffering to become a doctor one day.
"Sickle cell gave me a purpose and made me want to be a doctor. It made me stronger. I can deal with a lot more pain than most people can," said Jasemine.
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