September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month, and this month and every month, Team IMPACT is proud to work with children and athletes living with sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited blood disorders that cause abnormal hemoglobin production, resulting in misshapen, or “sickled,” red blood cells that can get stuck in the blood vessels. This can cause painful episodes called “crises,” swelling in the hands and feet, infections, fatigue, and decreased oxygen in the blood and organs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sickle cell disease affects about 100,000 people in the United States. One of those people is seven-year-old Justus.
Living with sickle cell disease is all Justus knows. He receives frequent blood transfusions and takes daily medications to help manage the disease. But living with sickle cell can often be unpredictable. “Sickle cell can affect the human body spontaneously at any time,” said Jessica, Justus’ mom, “and a pain crisis can last for hours if not treated right away. It takes a toll mentally as well and stops you from doing everyday normal things.”
Because sickle cell is an invisible disease, it is often hard to understand the pain that someone living with sickle cell can experience on a daily basis. Justus tries every day to not let his sickle cell stop him from doing the things he loves. “I want people to know that you can feel pain on the inside, but you cannot see it on the outside,” he said. And one of the things Justus loves is the Penn men’s basketball team.
Justus was matched with the Quakers in the fall of 2023. The first time he got to meet the team sticks out in Jessica’s head as one of her favorite days. “We had just gotten done doing a four-hour blood transfusion when we headed over to meet the Penn basketball team,” she recalled. “The welcoming Justus got from the team was so nice, and him being involved in practice impacted him very much.” His time with the team took his mind off his appointment and made him focus on the fun of the day instead. As soon as they left campus, Justus was already thinking about his next time with the team. “He kept talking about what he wanted to do with them at his next meet up,” Jessica said.
In the almost year since, his teammates have grown into some of Justus’ favorite people. “They make me feel like I am part of the team,” he said. “They feel like big brothers.” Together, Justus and his new team of big brothers have fun at practice, focus in on game days, and try new things outside of basketball. Justus “feels right at home” on the basketball court with his teammates, Jessica said, and when he’s at practice, he never wants to leave. His teammates always know it’s going to be a good day full of big smiles and loud laughs whenever Justus is around.
Justus has fallen in love with the sport of basketball and the new family he’s found in both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Penn. “Team IMPACT gives children a chance to gain an amazing childhood and memories they can have for the rest of their lives,” Jessica said. “This is a chance to gain big brothers or sisters.” For Justus, each interaction with the Quakers makes this experience even sweeter. “I love all of it,” he said. “I really don’t have a favorite memory with the team. It gets better and better every time I see them!”
