Angela Holloman is the 2012 Courage Award winner for the Annual Crescent Moon Gala. To hold a title such as the Courage Award Winner, Holloman said she was honored. “I felt like I was not alone, other people understood where I was coming from. That one moment vindicates everything I went through,” Holloman said.
Holloman has been living with the sickle cell disease for over 20 years. At the age of 8 Holloman knew that she was different. “I didn’t understand until I was unable to do the things other children did, I knew then that I was different,” Holloman said. However, it was not until Holloman was a teenager that she realized the full extent of her illness. “You don’t come to fully understand it or get the full definition of it until you are a teenager,” she said.
Faced with the possibilities of a crippling disease, Holloman believes that sickle cell is just one of life’s burdens. Holloman encourages those who suffer from the life threatening disease to never give up. “No matter what doctors may say, they don’t rule your life, you make your life what you want it to be,” she said.
One of the biggest misconceptions that some people have about sickle cell patients is their constant need for medical treatment. Even though the sickle cell disease and trait vary in the medical field, Holloman makes it clear that the required treatment is the same in both cases. “Doctors don’t believe that those with the sickle cell trait can actually have pain,” she said.
As the 2011 Courage Award winner Holloman encourages this year’s winner to “keep fighting and be encouraging to other people,” said Holloman.
I wish I could have learned more about Angela Holloman and her fight with Sickle Cell through this posting. Having members of my family with the disease I know what they go through so I could assume her case was in between theirs as one has an extreme case and the other a very mild one.
Hi Everyone
My granrdson Charlie has Sickle Cell he”s 9 years old, I am trying to start a foundation in New Orleans La. right now he’s on the register for a transplant. I would love help others as well. Can you’ll help.
I am so happy to have the support of our local Chapter of the Sickle Cell Foundation when I need their help with anything they always come through for me I encourage anyone in the Tallahassee and surrounding areas if you a loved one or a friend has Sickle Cell please contact the foundation to get signed up if your not In Tallahassee please contact your local office if you don’t have a local office feel free to call the Tallahassee office or contact me I’m willing to help you trust me you want regret it they are so loving kind understanding care(I can go on and on) people. We’re asking everyone to support your local Sickle Cell Chapter.