UK-based sickle cell activist, Nora Brown, distinguished.

She received the distinction during the Women’s Community Impact Awards Dorset UK 2024 that was organised recently.

The award ceremony was graced by the Mayor of Bournemouth, Councillor George Farquhar.

The 42-year-old Nora Brown, who has lived with sickle cell since birth, has offered unwavering and commendable support to patients living with the disease across the globe.

For several years now, she has diligently prioritised raising awareness and offering support to sickle cell patients through workshops, campaigns, and providing essential aid such as food and more.

In her acceptance speech after receiving the award, the activist who has spent 25 years in the UK, said the death of her two brothers who were sickle cell patients, pushed her to begin advocacy for patients worldwide.

Nora Brown said: “This award means the world to me. Receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at 42 makes you wonder what I’ve done…I dedicate this award to my personal fallen heroes, my two brothers who died of sickle cell. My mother had four children; three of us were sickle cell and one wasn’t”.

Her impact in life of sickle cell patients

Nora Brown is founder of Emeli’s Smile Sickle Cell Foundation which she created in 2018. Through the foundation, she has impacted positively several persons living with sickle cell.

In 2019, her foundation partnered with Association of Sickle Cell Persons in Cameroon-ASIPCAM in Bamenda and carried out their first outreach activities, where they were able to support and provide free medications to almost 440 warriors during that time.

She has also been using her online platforms to demystify sickle cell. The sickle cell activist does yearly online campaigns with ‘Break The Sickle Cycle’ and in the year 2020, she added the tag ‘SwagUp4SickleCell’.

This is intended to make warriors to understand that sickle cell shouldn’t be a barrier to whatever they want to achieve in life. Nora has equally been giving fruits and vegetables to warriors in hospitals and in the community with her ongoing Feed a Warrior Today project. 

Nora & her team have so far been to Yaounde, Bamenda, Mutengene, Garoua through this initiative reaching out to over 5,000 sickle cell warriors worldwide 

She has been a motivation to many sickle cell warriors through education, mentorships and giving them a voice in clinical support groups and in the community. 

About Nora Brown

The mother of four is a graduate in Computer Sciences and Information Systems from the Atlantic International University USA. Nora is media personality, philanthropist and a rapper. 

Nora is very active and continues to show love towards the sickle cell community, and the term ‘Sickle Cell Goddess’ is now widely used to describe her.

The recognition she received in the UK is just one of several awards she has bagged in her lifetime. She is winner of Black on Black Award which she won in 2005, 2018, 2019 and 2021.

Nora Brown equally holds the Floella Benjamin Award (2005, 2019, 2021), Life Effects Star Award in 2018, Women Appreciating Women Honorary Award in 2019 and the Inspiring Young People Award in 2020. 

This story first published in The Guardian Post issue No3130 of Monday June 02, 2024