{"id":23239,"date":"2025-01-06T06:21:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T11:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/?p=23239"},"modified":"2025-02-13T09:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T14:40:19","slug":"students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Are Heroes: A Film Tackles the Sickle Cell Crisis and Blood Donation Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In his debut film, Brooklyn-native Keenan \u2018Special\u2019 Bristol brings the struggles of those with sickle cell disease to the forefront.<\/p>\n<p><em><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbringslife.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Students are Heroes: A Sickle Cell Warriors Story<\/a><\/em> tells the story of high school student and athlete Jordana, who suffers a debilitating sickle cell crisis that leaves her hospitalized and in need of a blood transfusion. Because Jordana has developed antibodies from previous transfusions, a search for a compatible blood donor proves difficult. When word spreads about Jordana\u2019s predicament, her community steps in to host blood types in hopes of finding a match.<\/p>\n<p>The fictional story is one that mirrors real-life taDles. About <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/sickle-cell\/data\/index.html\" rel=\"noopener\">100,000 people<\/a> in the United States have SCD. More than 90% of those affected are African American or non-Hispanic Blacks. People with SCD have a life expectancy of more than 20 years shorter than those without it. According to the <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.redcrossblood.org\/donate-blood\/blood-types\/diversity\/african-american-blood-donors.html\" rel=\"noopener\">American Red Cross<\/a>, frequent transfusions for treatment can make it difficult to find donors with compatible blood types, like in Jordana\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>The topic hits close to home for Bristol, a dancehall musician from Crown Heights who founded the non-profit organization <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbringslife.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Music Brings Life <\/a>in 2010 after his mother struggled to find a compatible blood donor after a major knee surgery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom made it, but there&#8217;s many people that never make it because of lack of blood,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The nonprofit hosts assemblies at New York City high schools where Bristol and others perform and share information about the importance of blood donation for Black and other minority groups. They also host blood drives at high schools and colleges. \u201cWe have raised 1,000s of pints of blood, but we have so much more to go. The road is the road is long,\u201d said Bristol.<\/p>\n<p>Bristol decided to write and direct a film about SCD to spread awareness in a new way. He raised funds for the film and cast\u00a0experienced actors, as well as first-time actors playing themselves as high school students, and a doctor who plays himself. The star of the film, Jordana Whyte, has SCD and is a longtime advocate.<\/p>\n<div id=\"details-body\" class=\"details-body clearfix\" data-words=\"612\">\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to give some of the students an opportunity be a part of this film,\u201d said Bristol. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly actors, but some of them were actually first timers trying this out for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The production process of creating the film took about two years. Much of 2023 was spent on pre-production, while the film was shot for several months earlier this year. <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/maimo.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Maimonides Medical Center<\/a>\u00a0in Borough Park, where the hospital scenes were shot, allowed Bristol\u00a0to shoot there for free due to the important nature of the topic.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S.\u00a0is currently experiencing a blood shortage. In August, the Red Cross, which is responsible for 40% of the county\u2019s blood donations, <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nybc.org\/news-events\/new-york-blood-center-announces-blood-emergency\/\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> that blood donations fell by 25% since July. The blood type most in need was type O, which 51% of African Americans and O% of Hispanics have. Type O negative is the most urgently needed type and used most often in emergencies but is carried by only 7% of the population.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlood is a gift, and none of us paid for the blood. It&#8217;s sacred,\u201d said Bristol. \u201cAnd there are people that along their lives, they need the gift. So, it&#8217;s a gift that can keep giving life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Proceeds from film screenings will go towards a future\u00a0blood donation awareness concert at Yankee Stadium. A screening of <em>Students Are Heroes<\/em> will be held on Jan. 16 at <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/k409.echalksites.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">East New York Family Academy.<\/a> You can purchase and watch the film through the <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbringslife.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Music Brings Life<\/a> website. Learn more about blood donation eligibility and where to donate blood in New York City from the <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nybc.org\/donate-blood\/donation-locations\/\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Blood Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his debut film, Brooklyn-native Keenan \u2018Special\u2019 Bristol brings the struggles of those with sickle cell disease to the forefront. Students are Heroes: A Sickle Cell Warriors Story tells the story of high school student and athlete Jordana, who suffers a debilitating sickle cell crisis that leaves her hospitalized and in need of a blood [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5904,"featured_media":23240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[522,31,2717],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brooklyn-people","category-whats-buzzin","category-bk-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Students Are Heroes: A Film Tackles the Sickle Cell Crisis and Blood Donation Shortage - Brooklyn News and Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Students Are Heroes: A Film Tackles the Sickle Cell Crisis and Blood Donation Shortage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his debut film, Brooklyn-native Keenan \u2018Special\u2019 Bristol brings the struggles of those with sickle cell disease to the forefront. Students are Heroes: A Sickle Cell Warriors Story tells the story of high school student and athlete Jordana, who suffers a debilitating sickle cell crisis that leaves her hospitalized and in need of a blood [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brooklyn News and Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-06T11:21:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-13T14:40:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/studentsareheroes.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"784\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/\",\"name\":\"Students Are Heroes: A Film Tackles the Sickle Cell Crisis and Blood Donation Shortage - Brooklyn News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/studentsareheroes.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-06T11:21:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-13T14:40:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/da9080898e2ce6a46f024597da8da166\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/studentsareheroes.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/studentsareheroes.png\",\"width\":960,\"height\":784,\"caption\":\"Poster for the film \\\"Students Are Heroes: A Sickle Cell Warriors Story.\\\"Photo: Supplied\/Music Brings Life\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/students-are-heroes-a-film-tackles-the-sickle-cell-crisis-and-blood-donation-shortage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Students Are Heroes: A Film Tackles the Sickle Cell Crisis and Blood Donation Shortage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/\",\"name\":\"Brooklyn News and Events\",\"description\":\"For What&#039;s Buzzin&#039; 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