So excited to share this project with you. This was an open project that we discussed earlier in the semester about what we wanted to do. I originally had a few ideas in my head about what I wanted to do but things changed as I went through the semester.
So, my final project for the photography class is based on Sickle Cell Anemia. Which is, if you are not aware of the disease, a Chronic blood disorder where the red blood cells are abnormally shaped, or crescent shaped. This makes the cells difficult to travel through the blood vessels. When this occurs, the clogged blood vessels can block blood flow to various, important organs and body parts, such as heart, brain, liver, kidney and spleen. This causes severe painful episodes, or pain crises, which raise the risks to catch various infections. There are several forms of sickle cell disease, and symptoms can vary in form and severity from one person to another, but all include serious pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and headaches. Sickle Cell Anemia individuals are at a higher risk for health complications such strokes, eye damage, and pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, etc. so working to prevent these problems should be a primary goal for anyone with SCD. Currently, there is no widely available cure for sickle cell disease, so it’s imperative that people with the condition work with their hematologist and healthcare team to manage their symptoms.
Now, that you are a bit enlightened....What I did for my project was gather a bunch of my friends who suffer from Sickle Cell, like myself, and asked them to allow me to take photos of them. At first, it was a little challenging since around this time of year most of us are sick very often. However, eventually I got a photo here and a photo there and as I played around with it I figured out what I wanted to do and how I wanted to present it.
So, I took the photo, which could have been anything my friends associated with SCD, and I had them write something short in their own words about what Surviving Sickle Cell meant to them. Here is what they had to say and here are my final images....
Originally, I just had the image I enhanced with words in Photoshop, which I loved...it made the point! However, for this blog I decided to add a photo of each friend, including myself, to show that this disease is not always recognized or visible to people around us...in other words, If you saw me but didn't know me, you wouldn't know I was sick!
People don't understand what we go through, sometimes on a daily basis, and honestly we understand that most people aren't aware of SCD. However, this is what this project was for, to shed some light on a disease that a lot of people don't hear about or see, and bring awareness to as many people as possible. Now it is up to you to continue spreading the word and bring awareness to others. Help my friends and I shed the light so that one day, my child or yours, could live a life free of this disease!
Thank you!
Bree
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