By sharing his story, Georgia man serves as inspiration to kids with sickle cell disease

Blaze Eppinger.
(Image credit: Courtesy of the American Red Cross)

Blaze Eppinger is an open book, sharing his story about living with sickle cell disease in order to inspire kids going through the same thing.

Eppinger is an advocate for people with sickle cell, and works as a counselor and administrator at a camp run by the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia. He gives advice to the campers, answering their questions about how to explain sickle cell to others, and motivating them to live life to the fullest. As a kid, Eppinger wanted to attend the camp, and being able to work there as an adult is a dream. "It was timed perfectly," he told The Week. "I'm at the camp like I wanted to be as a child, but in a different capacity. Maybe if I had gone as a child, I wouldn't have come back as an adult."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.