By Roscoe Nance

Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick is a man on the run.
 
In that regard, Dr. Frederick is not unlike other college presidents, who must maintain a hectic pace to keep up with the demands and expectations that came with being the leader of an institution of high learning.
 
But unlike other college presidents, Dr. Frederick is literally running to raise awareness about sickle cell, a disease that disproportionately afflicts African-Americans, and to raise money help find a cure for it. He was diagnosed with sickle cell at birth and has launched the Run to Cure Sickle Cell campaign, which is aimed at increasing awareness about the disease and raising funds for Howard University’s Sickle Cell Disease Center.
 
Dr. Frederick has pledged to run one 5K race per month in 2019. He will participate in a 5K Sickle Cell Awareness run Saturday during the MEAC Track & Field Championships in Landover, Md., as part of his campaign.
 
“My struggle with the illness has been a great opportunity in terms of developing my endurance and that challenge,” Dr. Frederick said. “It has been a source of inspiration as I meet young people across the country who have sickle cell and who look at my life story with a very positive and uplifting attitude. I certainly felt I had a responsibility given the responsibility given the blessings I have had in terms of my health to do certain things to bring awareness to the country in terms of the live of those who are living with sickle cell and also to bring some hope that there is a cure on the horizon.”
 
Registration for the run, which is free, is available here. Participants are asked to make a donation the Howard University Hospital Center for Sickle Cell Disease.
 
Dr. Frederick was born in Trinidad & Tobago in 1971, a year after that country instituted mandatory testing for sickle cell. Even though he has lived with the disease his entire life, he has not spoken about it a lot publicly until now. He chose running 5K races as a means of speaking up in his personal fight against sickle cell because stamina and developing physical fitness have always been a challenge for him.
 
“I wanted to do something that represented a challenge in terms of something I would have to put some effort into to do,” he said. “Running a 5K or walking part of it would be a significant challenge. I thought I would give this a shot and run one a month as a symbol of making a sacrifice and at the same time bring an awareness that I was going o push my body to overcome the physical challenge it represents.”
 
The campaign will culminate with the Howard University Hospital Center for Sickle Cell Disease’s 13th annual Stomp Out Sickle Cell 5K run/walk in September.
 
Dr. Frederick’s first 5K race was last month in Orlando, Fla. He’s keeping his time to himself, but he does say he was pleased with his effort.
 
“I felt really good afterward,” he said. “It was good to get that first one done. I’m looking forward to the others. I try to pace myself. I walk and run. I’m not concerned about time yet. But I do have a bit of a competitive streak. I know I am going to push myself to get out there and push myself to get out there and do better. I’m going to keep my numbers to myself initially, but my goal is to get my numbers down.
 
“I don’t have a goal in terms of time. I want to see improvement. I’m going to keep running throughout the year nod complete this task. I have lots of friends and strangers who have stated they would love to join me, and people are making donations.”
 
Dr. Frederick says he is especially looking forward to this weekend’s indoor 5K.
 
“Running indoors will be different,” he said. “A lot more people will be watching. I might be a little bit more motivated to not walk but run more and hopefully a little faster. It will be good to be indoors. It will be warmer, which is good for my process as well.”
 
Cold weather and higher elevations can cause problems for sickle cell victims.
 
Completing just one 5K run represents a victory for Dr. Frederick, whose life has been affected negatively by sickle cell for as long as he can remember. He recalls being hospitalized three to four times a year when he was growing up.
 
He was an avid sports fan growing up, and soccer was his first love. He played the sport but not competitively because of his condition. He also enjoyed running and being outdoors, but he didn’t have the stamina required participate competitively in any sport. Later, when he was a surgical trainee, he sometimes worked 100 hours a week, which would lead to a crisis.
 
Even at an early age, Dr. Frederick was determined not to allow his condition to hold him back. He says his grandmother tells the story of him overhearing a conversation about his she was having with one of her friends about his illness when he was three. He later approached her about what was wrong with him and wanted to know how he could get better. During that conversation, he was going to become a doctor.
 
“That was the first inclination I had that something was different, that I had a challenge,” he said. “It was important for me to know and start dealing with my illness at early age. That was difficult. As a child, you’re active. That’s where you learn to socialize; you learn social structure playing games and things of that nature. There were times I would push myself to the point I would fall out. But the reality of it was, I learned very quickly that I wasn’t able to do those things. I was very much interested in reading. Being hospitalized and having to be still, reading was very comforting.”
 
Dr. Frederick, a triple graduate of Howard – and he completed his surgical residency training at Howard University Hospital -- says enrolling at Howard in 1989 opened a new world to him. He discovered a student support group and for the first time met others who were afflicted with sickle cell. He learned what triggered the illness and how to hydrate himself to avoid having a crisis.
 
“Coming to Howard changed my life and the trajectory of my disease as well,” he said. “I gleaned from (those he met) how to cope with the affliction. I also got close to some who ended up passing. That was a stark reality as well. All of that was very insightful in term of bringing me along. I owe a lot to Howard University and the Sickle Cell Center as well. It changed my perspective and changed the way that I saw my disease, and it gave me a way to not only work with my disease but to work in away to overcome my disease.”
 
Over the years, Dr. Frederick has learned to manage the disease, and he says it doesn’t negatively impact his presidential duties.
 
“I know what my triggers are,” he said. “The normal triggers – stress, dehydration – those things. I’ve learned in a lot ways how to cope with those things, how to make sure I am staying hydrated every day, and how to make sure in stressful situations I am listening to my body and paying attention to body to make sure I don’t have to get into any difficulty.”
 
Dr. Frederick hopes to send a message to a broad audience through Run to Cure Sickle Cell.
 
“My message is life has many challenges, and sickle cell is a major one if you have it,” he said. “But with those challenges are opportunities as well. Those opportunities with sickle cell teach you resilience, teach you courage and teach you the value of love. Lots of patients like me are surrounded by family members who are willing to be there and make sacrifices as my mom has and my wife and kids do now to make sure that I am in the best of health. While it is difficult at times, and it can be dispiriting, there is also a lot of hope. I think of my own journey. It puts to mind that I have a lot of support, a lot of love around me. I have been blessed to be able to achieve things that people that otherwise would have said I couldn’t achieve because I have sickle cell.
 
“My message to young people who have the disease and are living with the disease is to live with hope and to know there are potential cures. We have to get to as many people as possible. There is a message to those who are supporting those with sickle cell. That message is one of appreciation. There is a message those who simply don’t know as much about the disease. To let them know the disease does exist and people like me are living with the disease and trying to live as successfully as possible. The reality is that we need their support and we need them to be knowledgeable about the difficulties we have.”