Transcript
FROM THE PANEL TO THE PEOPLE: Inside the Sickle Cell Summit
The Grapevine · Fri Sep 25, 2026
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
It is your boy Ray Nitty, live from Thrive on King for Diversity Sick of Sales Summit.
Yes, it is full.
The summit has started.
The building is packed.
Just went through lunch.
We just had our lunch break and I am sitting here live with Anne Krieger, Director of Community Education.
How are you doing today?
Good, good.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, so I'm a director of community education and outreach efforts.
And we do a lot of our efforts very focused out of this incredibly special space, Thrive On Collaboration, because of these amazing partnerships within the building, the location.
All of it is just magic when it comes to really creating programs that help meet people where they're at, right, in the community.
And so my role is really to work and help establish the first understand the needs of the community, but then also create programming that will really meet their needs, right?
We can't assume that we know what people need and want,
need to go and we need to find out.
to spend time in the community.
But having a place, a space here at, we call it Varsity on King, but it's
the thrive
on building has really allowed us to connect with community in a lot more deeply, deeply more meaningful way.
And so many of the programs that we develop are really geared towards.
the needs of the community, much like what we're doing today, sickle cell, right?
is an area that is, you know, my background is nursing.
And I have to say, I did not know a lot about sickle cell disease until about two years ago.
And I learned so much in the last two years and understand the deep need that this community needs.
all of our support because this is a very very medically challenging disease to navigate and to treat and to ensure that it's well resourced.
So the event that we're having today with the Sickle Cell Summit is just one of many things that that diversity is committed to investing in.
I feel like I've learned so much in two hours of being here.
Some of those things that I've learned was, you know, how you all were intentional about this location because of the neighborhood that it was in and how many people are impacted by sicker cell in this exact neighborhood.
And I was telling Brother James, was it?
Yeah,
right
to
but it
45 minutes away from the community that needs it most.
Where transportation to it is hard.
Where I've seen so many buses just drive past already.
So many bikes and it's a very accessible place.
So just wanted to say how much I've learned about that as well and the intention that went behind that.
And I didn't know you all were in five cities.
Yeah, so we are we are in in are you talking about our blood center being in five different states?
so we
no, that's all right.
So adversity is many things the biggest I would say impact to the communities is the blood Center piece of it and yes, we are in five states
and it's Illinois all kind
of in this
region.
But in Wisconsin, we have a significant blood donor services impact.
So we have blood donation centers all over and you can do mobile drives.
And this is the most recent donor center that we've been able to kind of intentionally place,
One of the things and that's really part of my role is not only talking about blood donation, but also making sure people understand the need, but also making sure they're healthy that they can donate, right?
So along with sickle cell programming, we also do a lot of work in the low iron area or anemia.
When you go and you give blood, you get your hemoglobin tested.
So if you're wondering if you have low iron, you should go get your blood tested, right?
They'll test your hemoglobin.
And we have just started a recent program called Iron Up.
Hear it.
Versity and King.
Drive on collaboration.
where if you have lower iron, we're providing you with materials and some instances you might be eligible to qualify for some vitamins with iron
then further testing because that's a really, iron health really hits many of us.
It's me, it's me, I have low iron.
And it is important that we as a community health
deliver of care and interested in meeting the community needs, that we spend some time in that space in order for people to get what they need to have healthy iron levels.
Even before they consider donating, right?
But many, many people, a lot of women, walk around with low hemoglobin or low iron levels.
It's not
Well, you know what?
Did you talk to Barb?
a, to be really honest, it is the basic things people need.
So strip away all of the medical conditions.
what we hear from people, and we have Barbara Bell.
Ms.
Barbara Bell sits here in our donation center.
And when you come here, we're kind of tucked in the back, so don't leave without finding us.
She is here, and she sees people to connect them with resources.
Most of the people are asking for transportation, some childcare, food.
people have need access to food and
reason healthy food right and and if you're looking for a primary care physician which I would recommend everybody see we have connection points for that but this is what people are telling us you know and and then once we get all of those needs met
we can talk about like if you have sickle cell or if you have kidney disease, what more can we help you with?
Like that kind of basic needs and then if you have further health issues, let's work on those.
So a couple different ways.
One, we have really strong relationships with our hospital partners.
So we work very closely with obviously MCW who's in the building, Fratert.
data freighter system, advocate aurora, pro health, ascension, all of them are really great partners and we are able to connect with appropriate resources.
And then Barb also works through a system called impact that it could really is, it's like an inventory of all the, where they live, we can connect them to
things that are available to them.
So it's a pretty great system.
And if you haven't had
chance to meet Miss Barb.
She is the one of the sweetest people ever and she will take good care of you.
disease?
Okay so in actually like people hearing people's stories about
cell I think what
breaks my heart the most is I think When they when somebody is a nickel cell crisis, which is very very painful It is hard to always Get what you need when you need it and that can be like this I don't I can just imagine if you're in the worst pain of your life and you're trying to
get the care that you need and let's say it's after hours.
I think what we should really work towards here in Milwaukee is we should have a 24-7 sickle cell clinic.
That is something we should all figure
out
how to do because the emergency rooms are busy and there's so many different things going on and what people need is they need care that's specific.
to their needs and this disease, which is incredibly complicated from my background and learning about it.
And for me, I would say, I think the stories that I've heard have definitely made me feel incredibly sad.
I think we should be doing advocacy work to ensure that there's adequate support from an insurance standpoint.
It is a very fragile disease.
Until we can get everybody the cure, right?
Which is, I think where we're going.
I don't know if anybody talked to you about versities doing quite a bit of research in the sickle cell space.
no?
It's a lot of genetic research.
happening.
It's happening in small pockets of the country.
but it works and they're considering a cure, right?
I mean, that would be amazing.
Oh gosh, that's a good question.
I think come out for these events.
Even if you don't have any...
Show support, even if you don't have a personal connection,
think coming out, talking about it more, taking the information in, another thing is donating blood.
So
treatment for sickle cell is blood donation.
the need for blood, specifically those who have the RO factor, which in 44 to 47% within the African American community,
have the RO factor.
That is the premier blood type that helps treat people with sickle cell.
So we have a deep need for that.
And without that blood,
We aren't able to give the treatment to these people until they can get the care that
they
need.
And so, obviously, I gotta say donate blood, but come out to these events.
Look on the Varsity website.
We have a lot of different events throughout the year, and we would love for you to come learn more about it.
And if you're a caregiver, we wanna give you guys support because it is a...
It is a lifelong disease that impacts the whole family.
Yeah.
Make sure you all come down here.
Thank you for joining us today.
We definitely learned a lot.
You could come down here and donate blood today as a matter of fact.
So we're here at Thrive on King for Diversity Sick of Cell Summit.
Come down here.
Donate some blood.
Find out if you have the sick of cell trait as well.
We're
doing blood typing.
Find out your blood type.
Absolutely.
So join me down here.
I'll be here from
until four o'clock, y'all.
The summit is until four.
Actually, it goes until what time?
Four.
Oh, the summit goes until four.
So make sure you all come down.
Thank you, Ms.
Anne, Director of Community Education at Fourversity for sharing your information.
Thank you for
having me.
Hi, it's Bailey Coleman.
Join 1017 The Truth for our first ever pink and blue health
summer.
yeah
We are live at thrive on King for the versity sick of sales summit y'all.
It's an amazing.
It's an amazing It's an amazing event happening y'all down here at King Drive man a lot of dope vendors Greater Milwaukee Urban League hunger task force versity you have children's Children's
Hospital of Wisconsin.
You got so many amazing vendors here, man.
A lot of resources, a lot of education.
What?
Being shared, bro.
I learned a lot already.
What did Ray need to learn today?
That's a good
question.
that is very interesting, right?
As you present this idea, right?
Just because, OK, what you're telling me right now is that working on a cure took cure sickle cells.
It sounds like they already cured.
And I do know for a fact that there was a young black gentleman, I want to say down in Louisiana.
Right who actually was cured of sickle cell because sickle cell runs rampant through the black community Absolutely, this is one of these things that are why we don't know why but predominantly it affects us I'm not gonna a lot of you guys you've nation, you know, good boy, Benjamin would love to go down a rabbit hole about sickle cell All right, because at the end of the day, right when they're talking about sickle cell you're talking about all the different DNA structures if you will whether it's You know negroid if you will ever whether it's your centric DNA
Different races DNA happens to be different and for whatever odd reason we're the ones that have to deal with sickle cell So, you know, it is what it is But I'm glad that they're working on the cure and to figure it out for us to help us out and you know rid us of this disease that Ultimately plagues us, you know, and there's so many different celebrities out there who've had you know to suffer from sickle cell whether it was tea buys or Whomever else, but it's one of those things where it's just like
If you have to deal with sickle cell and live with that day in, day out, man, it really disrupts your life.
Like all the pain that you have to live through just while it's acting up is crazy.
I think it's time for us to go down the rabbit hole.
Okay, Truth or Nation, if you don't know what a rabbit hole is, it is a piece of information that you find on the internet or express the real life that takes you from one piece of information you find to another up until your curiosity is satisfied.
And today, Truth or Nation, I know why people out there in the world, okay, when we're talking about this idea, is that food hidden in there?
It's good.
I like it.
I like
us.
I know you love it.
I like it.
Our energy is spreading.
You don't let the sickle cell event thrive on King.
Versity, man.
I'm telling you they're trying to get everybody right.
But no, in regards to the actual rabbit hole for, again, when it comes to sickle cells, just why is our DNA, our DNA structure impacted by this more than other, you know, ethnic groups?
You know what I'm
saying?
Because like
some people would view it as a plague.
Some people would also say like, you know, maybe
a rabbit hole idea.
Maybe, you know, the African DNA isn't from here of this world.
You
know, some people will go to say that, you know, our DNA, the 666 carbon, the six carbons that we do have come from another planet.
You know, it could
be an
interplanetary DNA structure that we have and the sickle cell idea plagues us because we're not even supposed to be here on this planet.
But that's another conversation for another day.
what the
Come on now if we in the hole we in the hole.
I don't want to you know I don't want to take two people too far This is my first time back on radio man.
This is my first time back on radio in about a year You know,
I
don't want the rabbit hole to be I into Dutch it all over again But I mean
if we hear
if we're gonna talk about it people will go to say that at the end of the day the
African DNA, our cells, how our body is made up, is made up of like six carbine, and I forget the other ones, please do not, I wish I had the information to follow you right now, but please do not get at me about it, but just look into it.
They go on to say that we have, we're made up of like 666.
carbons something else I can't remember the other two elements so that they said that our DNA structures made up of but I'm saying that all to say that when it comes down to us being plagued by sickle cell I think one of the reasons why is because you know again we're not necessarily from this planet I truly believe that the black the black race the so-called black man black woman in America and of the entire world I don't think we're from here I think that we've actually landed here trying to figure out something how to survive from another planet
Well, we could have been the nephalums.
There's other people that build the pyramids.
Well, I know for a fact we built the pyramids.
No, for sure.
But I'm saying
Yeah, no, I would I would vehemently say that you know the fact that like we even have you know into Interplanetary connection with you know other stars and planets out there like there is a Tribe out there called the doggone tribe on the doggone tribe of Africa went on to go say that Who's the ancient aliens?
I can't think of right now
But there was an ancient alien that came from Sirius Star B.
I can't remember their names right now.
Oh,
The Anunnaki.
Yeah.
I was going to
Yeah, no, not the Big Head guys.
But they talk about how the Anunnaki basically came here and showed us...
Necessarily how to build the pyramids and gave us a lot of different knowledge and the doggone tribe actually goes in it Like they this is what they have already said.
This is a proven thing in there in their culture now with that being said They said that the doggone tribe the doggone tribe said that Inu Naki came down show them things called a Dinka codes, which is like the algorithm that
the
internet is made up of right
so
with that said
the dogon tribe knew this thousands of years ago just about 20 years ago or 40 years ago actually now because we're in 2026 but 40 years ago in the 80s American scientists went over there to go talk to the dogon tribe heard their story and literally just discovered the star series series B and the dogon tribe knew about this before way before way before you know our science scientists at NASA ever knew this so again it's just one of those ideas that make you go from
I don't know if that's where we're from, but I truly don't believe that, you know, the American, black American race is from this planet.
Like, even when you look at other planets out there, right?
And you think about how those other planets develop.
you know, whether it's talking about, dang, I feel like we just got old.
quick.
Man, so quick, so quick.
But whether it's the, you know, when you look at Mars and how Mars once had rivers or whether you're looking at the planet Venus, I actually believe that, you know, in the next coming, you know, few, not few years, but millions of years, I think Venus will be exactly where Mars is.
Venus will be exactly where Earth is and Earth will be where Mars is.
I think all the planets just kind of,
spread out over a period of time.
So
then?
Well, I believe that's why Elon Musk and the rest of the elite are trying to get up
new planets.
That's just a little rabbit hole.
The rabbit
Benjamin break, man.
Hey, man, I got the grapevine.
I got
You know what?
I'll put it this way.
You know what?
This is the grapevine.
Your boy, Benjamin, is filling in right now.
And I'm filling it right now for Vivian King.
Vivian King will have this spot from 2 p.m.
to 4 p.m.
starting October 12th.
So you guys need to get excited for that.
All right?
Get excited for Vivian King because this spot right here between 2 p.m.
and 4 p.m.
will be held down by Viv's views.
Again, led by Vivian King.
I am your boy Ben Jimin.
This is your boy Rae Nitty.
Bow!
And y'all are tapping into the great vibe for right
now.
What up y'all
one-on-one seven of truth
Alright, we are filling in right now for Vivian King who will hold the spot down with this views starting October 12th between 2 p.m.. And 4 p.m.. Make sure that you got your ears perked up alright between 2 p.m.. And 4 p.m.. For these views hosted by your girl Vivian King alright
what segments I'm not even mad at you though right
I'll
eight hours straight.
Yeah, let me get a bite
You need to restore your energy.
You know, you need to restore your energy.
Yeah.
We were down here at 5-1 King right now.
you know, uh, for the, for diversity event, you know, the circle cell event and you
That's very interesting.
You got
out there.
Before we get to the comments, though, right?
Before we get to the comments, right?
So you guys are just tapping in right now.
You know, I, if anybody knows anything about your boy, Ben Jammin, I love a good.
I love a conspiracy theory.
I love to just dive in deep and this while we're down here at the sickle cell event, you know, one thing that people should know about sickle cell is it does plague the black community?
But my overall question is why?
Why do you think it overplays the black community?
Right?
Why do you think it's a plague inside the black community?
It's not a disease that affects, you know, the the Eurocentric people.
It's not a disease that plays the Asian people.
It's something that plays the black community.
And your boy Benjamin had to go and say, hey.
You know what I think?
I think one of the reasons why we're impacted by sickle cell more than others is because maybe which is not from this planet, right?
Maybe, you know, we're far from a far, far away distant planet.
All right.
Maybe it's Mars.
Maybe it's from another galaxy.
I personally don't know.
But with that being said, Chief Nation, call it right now at 833-212-1017.
Why do you believe that sickle cell plagues the black community more than others?
Call it right now.
Now we could get to the comments, right?
Just talk stand on that topic sounds like a rap more rabbit hole activity.
So we go we go dive in it, right?
We got Laurent cousin Laurent says you cannot believe in God if you believe that black people are from another planet What or that humans exists on another planet?
What that goes against everything taught in the Bible?
Even even karma is not of God
See, okay.
No, no LeRon LT cuz I know who yeah, okay I know who you are LT One thing that I would say when it comes down to what you even put out there in those comments, right?
You're saying that I your boy being Jimmy cannot believe in God when you know that I'm a God-fearing man If you believe that black people are from another planet that the you that that I can't believe in the same God that you believe in
Honestly, I'm not gonna lie to you, LT.
I gotta give you some pushback because at the end of the day, I can believe in my God.
My God is not just a God of this earth, but he's the God that created the entire universe.
All right, go back and look at your Bible.
Go back and open up your Bible, LaRon Taylor.
The first
Yeah.
Yeah, the very first page he tells you how he created the heavens and the waters.
He tells you that.
And it was
But that's being said, and then you're just going to tell me that melanin, which is rich within our skin, are you going to tell me, Loran, that the fact that, you know, we have the melanin that's rich within our skin and it being mostly, you can see massive amounts of melanin outside in space, that that same space melanin isn't within the side of our skin.
We're made of star dust, Loran Taylor.
But that's just my perspective.
That's my philosophy on it.
You know, if you have some kind of beliefs about, you know, how Black people, you know, got plagued with sickle cell, call in.
Let me know.
833-212-1017.
I'm just giving you my idea.
I'm just giving you my opinion.
I don't believe Black people are from Earth.
I really don't.
I think that we have so much space out there in the rest of the universe that...
We are everywhere.
You know, since we're in the rabbit hole right now, since we're kind of caught up in this right now, I wouldn't even throw this out there, right?
Early this year when the governor was talking about oh, we got aliens man.
We got aliens got aliens There was one astronomer.
There was one science out there.
We're gonna go say verbatim that he actually saw aliens and what do they say look like?
He said they look like seven foot eight foot tall black men.
That's what he said That's for his voice.
That's for me is his actual idea.
That is from what he put down That's how he saw the world.
All right, so if you're gonna tell me Laurentella right now that black people, you know are only
and confine to this earth, I'm gonna say I'm gonna call that hogwash.
I don't believe you.
I don't believe you.
I believe in the scientists out there who said that they saw and they can confirm what's been said out there.
Is that the fact that most of us are, you know, there's aliens that look like us, but call in, Truth Nation, 833-212-1017.
If you have any questions in regards to sickle cell and or if you have an idea of why black people are plagued by sickle cell, call in 833-212-1017.
to enlightenment.
See what's going on.
Enlightenment.
Enlightenment.
Tap in with me.
How you doing, dawg?
What's
the word, man?
How
you
feeling, man?
Amazing!
Hey, so you, you, y'all, y'all seen the Secret Cell, uh, well, the Supercell, uh, series, right?
Y'all seen, y'all seen the
Oh
Okay,
cool.
Yeah, I think he
a
Oh, wait, the TV show?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the TV show.
They ain't like me, though.
No, I saw Supercell, bro.
I know what you're talking about.
You're talking about the British people.
yep, yep.
You have the British people.
Yeah, yeah, dog.
And all of them had sicker cells.
Did y'all know that?
That's why it's called Supercell.
All of them had sicker cells.
not know
OK.
All of them, all of them, all of them was black.
This is something that they keep in front of us.
What they put it in the movies, they know we got a power that we cannot unlock because they draw us further away from God by the food we eat and by
the
stuff
that they
put in front of us, by the water we drink and the entertainment that we listen to.
They take it away from our vibrations and our frequencies.
So we don't get to where we supposed to get to.
They know we supposed to be closer to God.
They know we are the chosen people, but
they
know this.
So they drawn us further away from our higher self by all the stuff that they put it inside of us.
This is why they hate us so much.
This is why they're doing the things that they're doing to us because they know the truth and we don't know it yet.
But
it's coming
out.
And this is why everything is happening the way that it's happening.
They trying to get theyself ready to leave this place.
Like I told you before, Benjamin, all this slavery, oppression, all of this stuff is about to be over real soon.
You
think that's what it is?
That's what a lot of
people think.
That 400 years is up, bro.
That's why God talking to his people the way he talking to his people.
The 400 years of silence been up.
People always talk about
what our ancestor didn't do and what they did.
But they don't understand that God was silent to his people for 400 years because when he brought them out of captivity with Moses, they was being ungrateful.
So he had to be silent to them.
But how the Bible say, the descendants will inherit more than the ancestors will.
We are them descendants, right?
This
is
why you woke.
This is why Nettie's woke.
This is why I'm woke.
A lot of people is not woke because they are the descendants of their ancestors who did not believe.
It's all history repeating itself, but a lot of people not going to believe because of their ancestors not believing.
And not everybody's going to make it to heaven.
Thank you so much for calling in, bro.
Thank you so much for calling in to the great fun, which avoid being jamming at Ray Nitty.
Thank you, dawg, because that was actually needed to be said.
And I, you know, I can even add to that because.
At the end of the day, we do know there's a lot of different things out here that are trying to hold us back.
And I think one of the biggest things is our diet, you know, holding us from, you know, how high we can ascend.
One thing that I, you know, I was reading to, which again, I guess I'm going to stay in the rabbit hole.
I guess I'm going to stay in the rabbit hole for a moment, but.
When we look at, you know, when you're trying to keep a ghost out of your home, you're trying to keep a witch out of your home or any one of those things, right?
Folklore, we're going to say, hey, make sure that you put salt on the floor.
You put salt by the doors.
Well, what is one of the number one things that plagues black Americans right now is high blood pressure, right?
And it's the salt intake, the sodium intake inside of our blood that actually makes us, you know, have this high blood pressure that happens to us, right?
And actually, when we think about it, it's really all of America.
but I'm gonna stick with my people for a moment.
With that said, if we are the chosen people, as some people would say, if we are God's people and we continue to ingest so much salt, eventually we do detach from our higher selves.
We can't even ascend to who we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to do out here in this world because what we're ingesting each and every day is destroying us.
It's destroying our mind, our bodies, and our souls.
And it affects our choices.
It's crazy, man.
But Carl and Truth Nation, 833-212-1017.
Why do you believe, you know, black people are plagued so much by sickle cell?
I believe that, you know, we're not from this planet.
Other people are saying it's because of the foods.
But Carl and Truth Nation, 833-212-1017.
We gotta
get raised some glasses,
No,
you use your... You could pull up the YouTube stream on your phone and then use the...
Read the comments that way.
That's funny, man.
You know what?
It's all good though, dawg.
I
mean,
I could do that too.
So
I'm gonna go ahead and go to the YouTube chat board and one thing that people are asking on the YouTube chat board is whether you believe that God created us or we developed through evolution, our DNA is unique to this planet and the characteristics that exist are only on this planet as far as we know.
You know what?
In LT, that's as far as you know, my brother.
That's as far as you know.
There are other people out here who have done the research.
Again, like I said before,
So the fact that we have melanin in our skin right now, melanin is an element that's outside in the universe.
Even with that said, they've actually started to find human DNA on comets and asteroids.
So we're out there in the rest of the universe, but you know, that's just how I see it.
But call a little chieftaination, 833-212-TES-15.
Why do you believe black people are plagued by a sickle cell?
You know what?
everybody who is on the call lines right now, I would ask to just please hold, because we will go to break soon.
But with that said, it's just like, Doug, why is this happening to us?
Some people say it would be a plague.
Other people are thinking it's the diet that we can just.
Where's the McDonald's, the processed foods, whether it's the education that we have, whatever's going on, you know?
And I'm just gonna let you guys know this.
If you are here at Tha Vong King or planning on coming down to Tha Vong King, Vercity has a blood typing team on site, all right?
and it's free, completely.
You know, you guys can pull up and figure out your blood type.
Blood typing identifies your blood group A, B, A, B, or O. And whether it's positive or negative, stop by a varsity team if you'd like to learn your blood type.
If you guys want to know Ben Tim's blood type, I suggest that you guys stay around on the side.
And I'll let you guys know all that stuff as I will continue to go down my rabbit hole.
This is your boy Ben Jenin.
That is Ray Nitty and this is the great bar for 2 to 4 PM.
Make sense you guys tap in October 12th for our Viz views because it will launch.
Will be...
Here's your boy, Benjamin, live at Thrive on King for the Versity Sickle Cell Summit.
Live for the Versity Sickle Cell Summit, and I have a very special guest with me sitting down right now, you know, with the Versity team.
Hold on.
There we go.
My bad, Driftation.
Oh, with that said, it is your boy, Benjamin.
I am live down at Dive On King for Diversity Sickle Cell Summit.
All right.
And I have Tasha Leon here, who is the clinical educational specialist for diversity blood typing.
How are you doing today, Tasha?
I'm doing fantastic.
Thank you.
Yes, yes.
I will let you know I'm doing amazing.
OK, I'm doing amazing.
But with that being said, now, Tasha, just to get right quickly into it, what can attendees expect when they visit the blood typing station?
down here.
I thought I was on came from
Russia.
First things first, you will see a smiling face to welcome you in to let you know the process will be quick and painless.
And we'll first get a consent.
Just sign your name,
your name,
your address.
Consent that.
Yep.
I consent to a finger stick.
Okay.
On to the next station.
You'll go just get a finger stick.
They'll use a little alcohol swab, finger poke.
Okay.
And all we need is a drop, two drops of blood.
That's it.
That's all we need.
Now, Tasha, that
process sounds pretty simple, pretty easy for anybody to just come up to varsity and get there and figure out what their blood type is.
Now, how important do you feel like it is for anybody to know what the blood type is?
Well, first of all, it's cool, right?
It is cool.
It is cool knowing what your blood type is.
You can press your friends, your family while you're at the dinner table.
Right.
And also, too, it's arming yourself with that knowledge and, hey, what?
blood types, if I'm this blood type, what recipients, what patients can get my blood type?
And on the flip side, if you were to ever need blood, what blood types would be compatible with yourself
with me?
And now we'll make it clear that just because I tell you my, I'm O-negative, we'll not supersede any other tests that we will still, before you get transfused, we'll still draw a sample, we'll still do some compatibility testing.
Yes, that would happen in any pretransfusion.
Well,
I'm glad that you brought up the idea of blood transfusions.
Now, there are some people who have the ideas out here, and I'm known to go down a rabbit hole a little bit, but there are some people out here who believe that, you know, a blood transfusion, you know, it's a life-saving measure, right?
There's other people who would actually say, no, I wouldn't like to receive a blood transfusion because, you know, they believe that a soul may be transferred or whatever may have you.
What is your experience with that idea when it is presented to
you?
And you just want to be respectful
of
both the donor's time and effort that they've already put into this donation already, and then also the recipient.
So
you have to be
respectful.
And sometimes there might be an alternate method or an alternate treatment that could happen aside from blood transfusion.
Maybe a medication could help.
It might not, in all cases, that recipient and their beliefs too.
No, what are those other ideas?
Because I was only ever, you know, I only ever knew of, again, like either a blood transfusion or basically you just say no.
So what would somebody's other, you know, option be if they didn't want to go the normal route for a blood transfusion?
Sure.
It could be some like iron therapy.
So more than like your Flintstone vitamin, you know, something a little more potent than that.
But instead of like, oh, I'm anemic and I'm having surgery next week.
Okay.
Instead of giving you a unit of blood, there's
there's medications you can take to bring your iron and your hemoglobin levels up
be at a desired level.
So there are some medication interventions that can happen aside from transfusion but you know in an acute setting
you know trauma or car accident that medication isn't gonna cut it
so we're gonna have to go to transfusion right got you you know and I'm not gonna lie at the end of the day me person when it comes down to blood transfusion I do believe that it's one of those great magnificent things that you know science has figured out because I'm not gonna lie to you guys you've nature if you see your boy Benjamin in some kind of rat or anything of that nature I need some blood give me that
All right, I need that blood.
Where do I sign?
I'm going to sign there, too.
Sign it.
I need it, man.
I need my life saved, you know.
But my question to you is, though, is, so why might someone not necessarily just want to learn their blood type, but learn other people's blood type?
Yeah, again, for compatibility of, like, I even, too, if you are a blood donor, too, like, I know that my blood is compatible with X amount of percent in the community.
And vice versa, I can get
or maybe only 10% of the population would be compatible with me.
So maybe that might inspire you to go find a donor or two, or a family member, recruit a family member or two to kind
of up that
ride that we have.
choices and inventory to choose and pick from
as
well.
Now that's very important.
Now, I told you guys previously earlier in the show that I would tell you guys my blood type.
Now, and I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I came to university.
I actually came to university, or should I say, university came to my school when I was 17 years old, racing J.I.K.'
's high school.
They came down there.
I, you know, donated my blood and whatnot, but that is when I learned that I was A positive.
Now, with me being an A positive,
Who can I give my blood to?
And what bloods could
I receive?
Okay, so you as an A positive donor, that A positive blood can go to other A positive recipients.
Okay.
And it could also go to AB.
positive reception.
Really?
Yes.
So, okay, I know somebody in the crowd right now.
I know somebody in the crowd right now because they just went and got there and figured out what their blood type was.
Because, again, when we're talking about this whole sickle cell summon and everything, they wanted to know if they, you know, carried the trade of sickle cell at all.
But also, again, ultimately wanted to figure out what their blood type is.
And again, if you guys come down to Tharval King, adversity, you can learn your blood type for free.
It's free.
And again, it's valuable information for you.
to know, to not just save your own life, but somebody else's one
day.
With that said, though, it's one of these things where, you know, if you do know your blood type, me, Benjamin, knowing that I'm A positive, I know now that I can save somebody's life who is AB.
And I think that's incredible.
How do you think we got this far with science, you know, when it comes down to how we've progressed, even know how to pair.
bloods together.
Right.
And you know, and in the scheme of things, I guess it's not all that old.
It wasn't to like the late 1940s or 1950 that we're actually, we're early 1900s that we're stumbling on like, wait, not everybody is compatible with everybody.
So I mean, there were
some things that didn't end well
to
figure that
out,
but that knowing that there are these compatibility and figuring out that compatibility is really not all that old in the scheme of things.
But there was some
Some trial and error shall we say, and just being grateful in development of figuring it out, figuring out that compatibility piece.
You know and it's unfortunate, but fortunate because it's just one of those things that you know science has its its wins and its losses, right?
And you know good thing we're born, you know it Good thing we're here and existing in the future right now because we didn't have to go through all that trial and error if you will, right?
Um, but with that being said Tasha, um, what questions are attendees asking your team today?
I
would say number one
to get in the blood type being done.
There's a finger prick involved, right, to get that blood or one drop or maybe two drops.
Did you get anybody like,
ah, that hurt.
See, exactly.
See, that's
it.
It is, does it hurt?
Yeah.
That is a number one.
First question is, does it hurt?
That's perspective.
Feels like just a little paper cut on the tip of your finger.
We need
this dropper to.
Then other questions are often surrounding eligibility to donate blood such as You know, I have diabetes.
Am I eligible to donate blood?
Actually
the crazy myth buster if I may is actually if you do have diabetes That does not disqualify you.
You can donate blood if you are even if you're insulin dependent
You can donate blood.
Absolutely.
So there's other things I don't self disqualify, right?
Ask the questions.
Go into the collection center and ask these questions.
Don't self disqualify.
And there are some medications that would disqualify you.
But it's usually surrounding like, hey, I've got...
I'm on this medication with at the Squall of Mesa around the donor eligibility.
That is very interesting, Tasha, because
you know what?
I'm not going to lie to you.
You're on your own social media stuff.
And as you're scrolling or as your boy being jammed in the scrolling, I saw a video of a mosquito going up to a diabetic patient and drinking the diabetic patient's blood and it's put the blood back out because they're like, oh my God, I can't take this.
But no, we will come to birthday.
We will take it.
Silly mosquito.
Right.
Right.
Silly.
Let me ask you this last question though, before we do wrap up with Kirtasha.
With that being said, where could listeners learn more about Vercity's
work at?
The best place to go would be Vercity's website, which is Vercity.org.
And it's a one-stop shop, really, for if you are looking to donate blood.
There's the collection centers, the hours, the ability to make an online appointment.
It also has the mission, vision, and values on there.
If you want to become a volunteer,
and you know maybe you can't donate or you're not eligible you know it's okay you know recruit a friend a family member somebody that maybe can or maybe your way of giving back could be for volunteering adversity so it has volunteer opportunities there
Some information some frequently asked questions there your opportunity to register as a organ tissue or eye donor as well So it's a one-stop shop and they also have patient impact stories, too So if you want to know and see the pictures of the the recipients
of your blood donations or tissue.
And I, you know, in Oregon donations help, there's patient impact stories
to that.
So
it's a one stop shop for city.org is the best place to go.
That is perfect.
Make sure you guys go to versity.org or if you got free time today, make something that you guys pull up the thrive on King for the circle sales summit event.
All right.
Where you guys can come down to figure out your blood type for free.
All right.
I am being jammed.
Tasha, this was such a great interview.
I appreciate it as well.
Thank you guys for having us down here.
It's your boy being jammed.
I am.
We will still continue to go down the rabbit hole of why do you guys believe black people are, you know, afflicted with sickle cell?