Helping People With Sickle Cell to Live Limitless Lives
SickleWell provides services and resources to support individuals with sickle cell and their support system to thrive in education, career, finances, health, and wellness.
Sickle Cell Across the Lifespan
Sickle cell disease is not just a medical condition. It shapes daily life, access to education, economic stability, and long-term opportunity from childhood through adulthood. The data below highlight how sickle cell impacts health, learning, work, and quality of life across the lifespan, revealing where systems fall short and where coordinated support can change outcomes.
Behind every number is a person, a family, and a set of daily decisions shaped by sickle cell. The data above reflect patterns, but they also point to lived experiences that repeat across childhood, adulthood, and aging.
When support is fragmented, the impact compounds. When care, education, and stability are aligned, outcomes change. Understanding this full picture helps move the conversation from managing symptoms to supporting whole lives.
An Ecosystem for Living Well
Sickle cell is often talked about as a medical condition, but for the people who live with it, it shapes much more than health. It affects whether a child can stay engaged in school, whether a parent can keep a job, and whether a family can plan ahead or is always responding to the next crisis.
Too often, families are left to navigate this on their own, moving between schools, hospitals, workplaces, and support systems that do not talk to each other. The burden of coordination falls on families who are already carrying enough.
SickleWell exists to change that. We are building an ecosystem of support that helps people living with sickle cell and their families navigate life, not just illness. Our approach centers the whole person and the whole family across childhood, adulthood, and beyond.
Living well should not depend on luck, privilege, or how well someone can navigate broken systems. It should be something people can count on. That is the work of SickleWell.
The Wells:
How SickleWell Supports Living Well
Each Well represents a critical area of life shaped by sickle cell. Individually, each Well matters. Together, they create stability, opportunity, and the conditions for people and families to thrive.
SickleWell works across the following Wells:
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Health-related absences, pain episodes, and hospitalizations often interrupt learning. Too many students with sickle cell fall through the cracks of school systems that are not designed for chronic illness.
How SickleWell supports this Well:
IEP and 504 planning and advocacy
Academic continuity support during absences
Education navigation for families and schools
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Medical care is essential, but access alone is not enough. Families must navigate complex systems, transitions, and fragmented providers across a lifetime.
How SickleWell supports this Well:
Care coordination and navigation support
Transition planning from pediatric to adult care
Support during hospitalizations and care disruptions
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Living with sickle cell can disrupt work, income, and long-term financial stability. Frequent medical needs, fatigue, and pain episodes often interfere with job continuity, career advancement, and economic security, especially during key transition periods like early adulthood.
How SickleWell supports financial and career stability:
Career navigation and transition support for young adults living with sickle cell
Guidance around workplace accommodations and navigating employment systems
Short-term financial stabilization during periods of illness or disruption
Connections to community resources that support long-term economic resilience
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Sickle cell affects emotional health, relationships, and overall quality of life for both individuals and their caregivers. Chronic pain, stress, uncertainty, and burnout are common, yet mental and emotional well-being are often overlooked in traditional care models.
How SickleWell supports holistic wellness:
Connection to mental health and emotional support resources
Caregiver support and opportunities for rest, relief, and connection
Wellness supports that center dignity, joy, and whole-person care
Community-based engagement that reduces isolation and builds belonging
What We’re Doing in 2026
In 2026, SickleWell is taking a focused approach. While we continue to support families across health, wellness, and stability, our primary emphasis this year is education — because when school is disrupted, everything else is too.
Our work this year centers on three big commitments:
We are working toward ensuring that every child with sickle cell in Los Angeles has an appropriate and implemented Section 504 Plan or IEP, so their health needs are understood, protected, and supported in the classroom.
Every child supported at school
We are providing SickleWell School Packs to help students manage school days when pain, fatigue, or sudden health needs arise — so kids can stay safe, comfortable, and engaged when plans change.
Every child prepared for the unexpected
We are helping students catch up academically after absences, coordinating with families and schools so recovery does not turn into long-term educational loss.
Every child supported after hospitalization
Join the Movement
SickleWell is currently welcoming partners, advisors, and early supporters who believe in building systems that support whole lives.
There are many ways to lend support at this stage, including one-time and recurring donations, strategic partnerships, advisory involvement, and early philanthropic investment. If you’re interested in learning more or exploring how to engage, we invite you to connect with us or donate now.
Meet the Team
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Wale Forrester
FOUNDER | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Wale Forrester is a public administration and operations leader focused on building sustainable organizations. His role as a parent supporting a child with sickle cell shapes SickleWell’s emphasis on coordination, stability, and long-term impact. -
![A woman with curly black hair wearing a green blazer and gold hoop earrings, smiling at the camera against a gray background.]()
Dr. Kandace Forrester
FOUNDER | ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Kandace Forrester is an education specialist whose work focuses on how health, education, and social systems intersect for children and families. Her experience as a parent navigating sickle cell informs SickleWell’s coordinated, whole-life approach to support. -
![A young woman with curly black hair, wearing a white t-shirt with blue text, sitting on a wooden chair against a plain white wall.]()
Abisola Forrester
FOUNDER | YOUTH AMBASSADOR
Abisola supports SickleWell’s education and arts programming, as well as public relations and communications. As the sibling of a sickle cell thriver, she brings a relational perspective that helps shape how the foundation engages families, communities, and the public. -
![A young person with short curly hair and a gentle smile, wearing a dark shirt, against a neutral background.]()
Ayinde Forrester
FOUNDER | YOUTH ADVISOR
Ayinde Forrester is a sickle cell thriver who contributes to SickleWell’s storytelling and social media. His perspective helps center joy, possibility, and lived experience in how the work is shared.
