‘We Attempt to Uplift Her’
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Tevin and Akilah Coleman are decided to make a distinction.
The NFL star and his spouse each knew rising up that they carried the sickle cell gene however did not notice how that might influence them as they began their household.
Talking with PEOPLE to debate the auctioning of his cleats as a part of the NFL’s My Cause, My Cleats, the veteran operating again and his spouse shared how their journey into sickle cell advocacy started after their daughter Nazaneen was recognized.
Tevin and Akilah welcomed their twins, Nazaneen and Nezerah, in 2017, and discovered about Nazaneen’s distinctive well being wants when she was simply an toddler.
“I knew one thing was up,” Akilah tells PEOPLE. “My son, they knew he did not have it however fairly immediately, with my daughter, we had to return and do a few totally different assessments as a result of they knew that there was one thing happening. It was confirmed round 4 months.”
The couple shortly realized quite a bit about easy methods to handle the signs Nazaneen confronted however weren’t able to go public with their story instantly.
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“I simply needed to guard my daughter after I first realized she first had it,” Tevin, who started experiencing signs of sickle cell himself as a university athlete, tells PEOPLE. “I needed to guard her — from the general public, from all people. In order that’s why I did not say something at first.”
With the twins turning 5 in November, Tevin needs to point out his daughter that there is no disgrace in her sickness and what she must do to look after herself.
“Now that she’s getting older and he or she’s studying and understanding that she has sickle cell, I needed to speak about it and simply elevate consciousness,” he shares.
Provides Akilah, “She’s solely 5, so we’ve not gotten to the purpose the place I really defined to her what her physique goes by way of, however I’ve let her know that it is simply actually essential to at all times inform Mommy — no matter you feel, no matter you are going by way of, inform Mommy. Let’s discuss it. Do not be scared to inform me in the event you’re in ache, so I can assist you.”
Akilah is elevating the twins on the couple’s house in Atlanta, a problem as Tevin at the moment performs on the San Francisco 49ers, but additionally for Akilah as she tries to maintain Nazaneen wholesome within the cold-weather months.
“For my daughter, she doesn’t go exterior at college if it is beneath 50 levels. I’ve to maintain her actually heat, and when she comes house from college, I’ve to examine her fingers and her toes,” she explains. “I’ve to ask her if she has any aches or if something hurts, or if she’s having any pains. And he or she has been having pains really, she’s been having some pains in her legs and her toes.”
Provides Tevin, “You positively should hold your eyes on her always, simply to verify she’s not having any disaster. We attempt to forestall her from going to the hospital by checking her temperature, ensuring her physique’s not too sizzling however not too chilly, ensuring that she’s hydrated and consuming nicely.”
The mother tries to maintain issues mild by “disguising plenty of what we do for her as self-care.”
“I will simply say, ‘Okay, we’re gonna have a spa day. I will therapeutic massage her legs and do a mani-pedi, sort of rub her toes and get a few of that circulation going as a result of the one factor I do not wish to do is put an excessive amount of worry in her.”
Nonetheless, Akilah and Tevin are cautious to strike a stability in order that Nazaneen can appropriately advocate for herself as she grows.
“I need her to have the ability to determine what she’s feeling, however I additionally wish to defend her, in a way, in her childhood,” Akilah shares. “I need her to have the ability to vocalize what she’s feeling with out being scared.”
Although Nezerah does not know what is going on on along with his sister both, he’s “protecting” as her twin.
“It is nearly as if he is aware of. He’ll simply carry her a blanket or water. He’ll be like, ‘Sissy’s chilly or Sissy must drink some water.’ She will not say something however he’ll simply go and get it and provides it to her. So I do assume that there’s a particular bond that they’ve and he is capable of determine some issues that she’s going by way of. Possibly he simply sees the indicators in her, nevertheless it’s one thing that I admire.”
The household can be engaged on utilizing their platform to provide a voice to sickle cell — particularly for Black households going through the illness.
“One of many huge issues that we mentioned previous to coming ahead was how Tevin needed the group to have a face for sickle cell after which to know that there is somebody on the market that pertains to them and understands them, as a result of sickle cell is worldwide,” Akilah notes, sharing how Liberians (the place Tevin’s dad and mom are each from) and different Africans expertise the illness at elevated charges.
“Individuals reaching out to me on social media, telling me their story, and I will message them again. And so they’re stunned, like ‘I by no means thought I might get a message again from you.’ However that is why I am doing this, I am right here to assist,” Tevin says. “I am simply giving them my mild, sharing my state of affairs, my story and giving them hope.”
The NFL star acknowledges that “it is positively ugly at occasions, however we attempt.”
“Each time that my daughter does have a disaster or she is within the hospital afterward, we attempt to uplift her and hold constructive vibes. We do it by throwing a celebration for her when she will get again, giving her a cake, giving her toys, simply to make her smile.”
The household was capable of make an particularly nice second occur for Nazaneen final January when a snowstorm landed in Atlanta across the similar time the household was celebrating Christmas.
“What we do in our family is we rejoice the vacations when my husband comes again house, since we do not get to essentially spend plenty of holidays with him. Final 12 months when he got here house, it was really in January and we ended up celebrating Christmas then,” Akilah explains.
“We had Christmas bushes, full-on Christmas morning. It was the sooner or later in Atlanta that it snowed,” she continues. “So my husband and I, we went exterior and picked up buckets of snow, and we introduced them in the home as a result of we do not let our daughter exterior within the chilly. So we collected buckets of snow. We lined our furnishings with painter’s plastic, and we had a snowball battle in the home with my daughter.”
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Not solely was the second one which could not have occurred in any other case for Nazaneen, nevertheless it was enjoyable for Nezerah too.
“My son was off to the aspect consuming the snow,” she laughs. “After which my daughter was actually aggressive, throwing the snow. She was on Daddy’s aspect, in fact, throwing snow aggressively at me.”
“It is issues like that that basically make you admire the dual features but additionally, that is one thing that we would not have achieved if she did not have sickle cell,” Akilah factors out. “So that you see, we simply discover methods to place constructive spins on our actuality, and we discover moments to only have enjoyable as a household, in a lighthearted means. That is what we’re doing, and it is superb.”
The sport-worn cleats up for auction now have been designed with Nazaneen’s spirit in thoughts and can profit Sickle Cell Illness Affiliation of America. Bids on the merchandise will proceed by way of Feb. 17.