Teacher not letting sickle cell run his life

A life-threatening disease diagnosis received shortly after birth has now become the catalyst for positivity for a 33-year-old primary school teacher, who has defied all odds.

Jermaine Harris, a Linstead, St Catherine native, is using his platform through modelling and sickle cell advocacy to encourage persons not to let their sickness be an obstacle.

"It robbed me of my childhood experience, I was basically in and out of hospital. I wasn't allowed to run up and down because the slightest hit, I would end up back in the hospital," Harris said. Harris was diagnosed with the sickle cell disease as a baby. Of the nine children that his parents Sonia and Wilton Harris had, he and two other siblings were affected by the disease. He noted that both parents had the sickle cell trait.

"I was in denial about it. I knew that it was there, but I didn't want to accept the fact that I had it, because I was afraid of the stigma that came with it. People would treat you differently, but I just wanted to be normal," he shared.

Harris related that the family struggled to care for three sick children, given his mother's income as a domestic helper and his father's, who sold soup at the health clinic.

"It was rough, being that we had three persons in the family battling sickle cell. It was a burden on the family. Mommy really had to extend herself in more ways than one; she overworked herself and my father [did too]," he told THE STAR.

But Harris did not allow the disease to affect him, as he excelled at McGrath High School. He then matriculated to The Mico University College, where he was the president of the Debating Society and Chess Club, and successfully graduated in 2017 with a degree in primary education.

The sickler also has a certificate from HEART/NSTA Trust in food preparation Level Two. But he explained that seeing how persons are treated at hospitals for sickle cell, and the education available about the disease, he started his own advocacy network, the Sickle Cell Awareness and Mentorship Charity, in 2018.

"Seeing how my brother and sister were affected by sickle cell and learning about the stigma associated with it, it ignited a fire within me to change what was happening to them. I wanted to let them know that this is not it for them; they can achieve the same things like 'normal' persons. They can push against the boundaries sickle cell may have set for them," Harris told the news team.