{"id":28921,"date":"2025-09-08T19:25:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=28921"},"modified":"2025-09-08T19:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:25:13","slug":"episode-216","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/education\/podcast\/episode-216\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode 216: Sickle Cell Awareness Spotlight: Teonna\u2019s Journey with Fertility and Advocacy"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[230,240],"tags":[225,494,617],"class_list":["post-28921","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","category-education","category-trying-to-conceive","tag-infertility","tag-reproductive-health","tag-sickle-cell"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Episode 216: Sickle Cell Awareness Spotlight: Teonna\u2019s Journey with Fertility and Advocacy | 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this episode, Teonna opens up about her journey with sickle cell and access to fertility care.","episode_intro_guest":"Teonna Woolford","episode_intro_company":"SC RED","episode_banner_section_intro_text":"This is Infertility is a bi-weekly podcast where we fuse narrative storytelling with experience and science to give you a new perspective on what it\u2019s really like to go through a family building journey. Each episode dives into the emotional, physical, and financial burdens carried by those who experience infertility on their path to parenthood. Be it IVF, IUI, egg freezing, surrogacy, adoption, etc., the path is never the same and it can be long, painful, and lonely. It\u2019s our mission to give those struggling a platform to be heard, a community connection, and an opportunity to raise awareness of the 1 in 6 who, for many reasons, struggle with infertility.","episode_page_title":"Episode 216: Sickle Cell Awareness Spotlight: Teonna\u2019s Journey with Fertility and Advocacy","episode_embed_code":"<iframe style=\"border: none;\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/38130945\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/ffffff\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/stats-code\/Landing216\/font-color\/000000\" width=\"100%\" height=\"128\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>","episode_details":"<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Guest: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Teonna Woolford, CEO &amp; Co-Founder, SC RED<\/span>\r\n<b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Host: <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Dan Bulger, Progyny<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Teonna had always known she wanted to have a lot of kids. At the age of nineteen, she discovered something that would change the trajectory of her life: she might be infertile due to sickle cell disease.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">Despite years of managing sickle cell, in and out of hospitals, doctor\u2019s offices, and attending sickle cell conventions, no one had ever talked to her about the link between sickle cell and infertility. Unfortunately, fertility preservation was too financially out of reach.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">But Teonna\u2019s story didn\u2019t stop there. She endured a failed bone marrow transplant, chronic pain, and the emotional toll of navigating a healthcare system that often overlooks the reproductive needs of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/progyny.com\/blog\/fertility-family-building\/spotlight-on-black-womens-health-equity\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">those living with<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\"> this chronic illness.<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Out of that struggle came a new purpose. Teonna co-founded <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sicklecellred.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">SC RED<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> (Sickle Cell Reproductive Health Education Directive) to raise awareness, expand education, and fight for <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">equitable access to fertility care for those with sickle cell disease.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"auto\">In this episode, Teonna opens up about her journey and why she\u2019s determined to ensure no one else faces the same barriers alone. This Sickle Cell Awareness Month, she hopes that the future of living with sickle cell can be about thriving and not just surviving.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span data-contrast=\"none\">For more information, visit Progyny\u2019s Podcast page and Progyny\u2019s Education page for more resources. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility. Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at <\/span><a href=\"mailto:thisisinfertility@progyny.com\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">thisisinfertility@progyny.com<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"TextRun Highlight SCXW22720178 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW22720178 BCX8\">Watch this episode on YouTube:<\/span><\/span>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/tJXUXwChtA8","episode_host_image":22662,"episode_host_title":"Dan Bulger, Producer at Progyny","episode_host_bio":"Dan has been in the healthcare industry for the past ten plus years as a multimedia content producer. Better known as \u2018Video Dan\u2019 he has interviewed numerous doctors, patients and other experts in the world of fertility. He\u2019s also the producer for this podcast, This is Infertility and the producer behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/progyny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"exc\" aria-label=\"Progyny YouTube Channel - opens in new tab\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"na\">Progyny YouTube Channel<\/a>\u00a0which features interviews with dozens of the nation\u2019s leading fertility specialists. On a personal note Dan\u2019s parents started fostering kids when he was four years old, and he considers himself a proud older brother to over 100 foster children.","episode_guest_1_image":28922,"episode_guest_1_title":"Teonna Woolford, CEO & Co-Founder, SC RED","episode_guest_1_bio":"When searching for both educational and financial resources for fertility preservation, Teonna Woolford was taken aback by the lack of information related to women with Sickle Cell. For far too long, the Sickle Cell Community has faced tremendous disparities and have had to prioritize survival over quality of life, allowing other areas of importance, such as reproductive health, to be overlooked. To combat this, Teonna, alongside two physicians devoted to the cause; John Hopkin\u2019s Dr. Lydia Pecker and CHOP\u2019s Dr. Kim Smith-Whitley, founded the non-profit organization Sickle Cell Reproductive Health Education Directive (SC RED). SC RED is a collective of Sickle Cell warriors, providers, caregivers, and other key thought leaders advocating for high-quality sexual and reproductive care through awareness, education, advocacy, and various levels of support.\r\n\r\nWith an intimate understanding of the realities of those impacted by Sickle Cell Disease, Teonna has served on several working groups for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Teonna has also published with the American Society of Hematology (ASH). She has been successful carrying her mission and message to schools, churches, and The White House; bringing her face-to-face with former First Lady, Michelle Obama, Dr. Ben Carson, and the late civil rights activist and humanitarian, Congressman John Lewis. In October 2021, Teonna made history as the first patient to give the Charles F. Whitten Memorial Lecture alongside her mentor, Dr. Kim Smith-Whitley.\r\n\r\nWhile Sickle Cell has been a large part of Teonna\u2019s life, she does her best not to let it define who she is. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, cooking (therefore eating), shopping, watching movies, keeping up with current events, and most of all, spending time with her family. She has always been active in her church and seeks to put God first in her life. Like many in the Sickle Cell community, Teonna is determined to not only live but to thrive.","episode_guest_2_image":"","episode_guest_2_title":"","episode_guest_2_bio":"","episode_guest_3_image":"","episode_guest_3_title":"","episode_guest_3_bio":"","episode_guest_4_image":"","episode_guest_4_title":"","episode_guest_4_bio":"","episode_guest_5_image":"","episode_guest_5_title":"","episode_guest_5_bio":"","episode_music_section_links":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/28921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progyny.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}