June was diagnosed with sickle cell before the age of 1 with the SS genotype. She says growing up with sickle cell was harder than living with sickle as an adult as she began to understand the condition better and learn the limitations of the condition including the patterns and triggers of her crises.

June has a B.A in English Literature, PgD in Business and Research and a MBA. June has spent most of her career with the National Health Service working on national and local transformation programmes and change management.

When June is not working, she is being creative, writing poetry, blogs, travel articles and lots of reports. June has several interests specifically around arts and culture. She travels a lot, enjoys horse riding, is a bit of a foodie, and generally enjoys wellbeing events like spa, yoga and reflexology. Ultimately, she enjoys spending time with her partner, family and closest friends.

June is a life serving volunteer who supports a number of charities, more specifically the Sickle Cell Society. June has been the Society’s Volunteer Coordinator since 2015. June sits on the Hackney SOLACE support group Board and gets her treatment and care at the Homerton hospital IN Hackney.  She has participated in a number of national peer reviews with an aim to improve sickle cell services and works with clinicians as a patient lead to improve the sickle cell standards in hospitals.

June’s ultimate purpose is to support sickle patients where possible to live healthy lives and have a reasonable quality of life. She wants to share all her experiences with young people who have sickle cell to support them to manage their condition really well and rise above sickle cell.

If you are, or you know, a 10-24 year old living with sickle cell in Hackney and City then email mentors@sicklecellsociety.org or call 07377 170152 to book a session or to find out more.