Our Inaugural Event

Our first event, Braden’s 12th Birthday Bash & Blood Drive, was a success! We are so thankful for the support of our B Strong Team, volunteers, family and friends, our event partners: the American Red Cross and the Richland County Recreation Commission, sponsors, supporters, our community and of course our B Strong Sickle Cell Warriors! They are our motivation!

Our mini kickball tournament was a hit! First place went to Braden’s Ballers; 2nd to Kick Squad, Third place to the Munchkins and Fourth place to Just Kick It! Thanks to all of our participants and coaches!!

Our silent auction that included some wonderful items was also a hit. The food prepared by Congaree Convenience Catering was delicious and plentiful! We are thankful to all of our vendors who provided information and services to our guests. They included DHEC Camp Burnt Gin, A Healing Touch Chiropractic Center, Be The Match, Cilly Cell Project, Richland County Sheriff Department’s Deputy Kevin Lawrence and Sheriff Leon Lott and the James R. Clark Memorial Sickle Cell Foundation. We enjoyed entertainment by Beyond Words Dance Academy and Heart of Ice Sculptures!

Thank you all for making this a wonderful first event! Stay tuned for future B Strong Events!

Braden’s 12 Birthday Bash & Blood Drive

COME CELEBRATE WITH US AND GIVE BACK IN HONOR OF OUR SICKLE CELL WARRIORS!

Sign up to donate blood here!

We will have a family & kid-friendly kickball tournament too! Get your team together and go to our FB Blood Drive Event Page and let us know!

There will be games, arts and crafts, food, drinks and special guests and its all FREE!

Come celebrate another year of life and help to save lives as well!

If you cannot donate blood, consider bringing craft items to donate to Child Life at Palmetto’s Children’s Hospital! Braden loves crafts and it served as a distraction during his hospital stays. We want to make sure other children are able to be as comfortable as possible during their stay. Items that can be donated are: crayons, pencils, markers, coloring books, word finds, cross word puzzles, legos, etc.! This is in lieu of birthday gifts for Braden!

Braden’s artwork during one of his stays. We always display his artwork on the windowsill of his room. It encouraged him to keep creating despite of what he was visiting the hospital for.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at thebstronggroup@gmail.com or via FB, Instagram, Twitter of Messenger!

Our Story.

My husband and I found out that our son has sickle cell disease when he was 3 months old. The newborn screening performed in our local hospital upon his birth identified that Braden has Sickle Cell Hemoglobin C disease. My husband has the trait and I have an abnormal Hemoglobin C. I (mom) had no idea of our son’s chances of having sickle cell because I had no idea of my or my husband’s genetic status. Needless to say, we had a very deep learning curve.

The majority of our education of this disease came from our son’s hematologist, pediatrician, our local Children’s hospital and its foundation and Google. I tried to learn as much as I could in order to appropriately advocate for my son. There were very stressful times throughout our journey, trying to understand discern if his symptoms were sickle cell related or just normal childhood ailments. A fever of 101 degrees F, was a required Emergency Department visit. For the first 5 to 6 years of his life, he was hospitalized multiple times per year for mainly infection issues. He is prone to pneumonia and has battled it numerous times. In 2015, he was diagnosed with acute chest syndrome and it nearly cost him his life. That was the most scariest time of our lives with Braden.

We are blessed to still be able to tell our story with Braden with us. We are still learning as much as we can and through this organization, hope to spread awareness about this disease, hope to be able to advocate for Braden as well as other children and adults who suffer from this disease and to listen to our warriors and their caregivers as they share their stories.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton