By Kelly Flynn

Dr. Andrea Pullen is an educator, leader, mother and lifelong learner. After more than two decades in education, she now works in faculty development and online education at Fayetteville State University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in English.

“There’s very little that I don’t want to know about,” Andrea said. “I’m always trying to figure out how to do something. I’m always trying to be trained on something, certified in something.”

Away from work, Andrea enjoys a good television binge, has recently taken up line dancing and would like to get back to playing pickleball. Friends, family and community service are also central to her life, particularly through Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

But ask what makes her most proud and the answer comes easily: her three adult children.

"The thing that I'm most proud of are my three adult children who are just amazing beings," Andrea said. "The thought that I had anything at all to do with their existence is breathtaking for me."

That deep connection to family also helps explain why Andrea's service as a Sandhills Chapter board member has become so meaningful.

A family connection to sickle cell disease

Long before joining the American Red Cross, Andrea had a personal connection to sickle cell disease.

Her older sister, Susan, had sickle cell disease. Andrea never had the opportunity to meet her. Susan gave birth to a daughter and died several days later. She was buried on Oct. 11, the day before Andrea was born.

Susan's daughter, Yolanda, was just days older than Andrea, and the two grew up together. Although Andrea never knew her sister, she always felt connected to her.

That connection stayed with Andrea, making sickle cell disease an issue she would continue to pay attention to throughout her life.

Years later, that family connection would intersect with a new opportunity to serve.

Finding a place to serve

A colleague reached out to Andrea when the Sandhills Chapter was looking for additional board members and opportunities to connect with more of the community. By then, Andrea had already experienced one part of the Red Cross mission firsthand.

When her youngest son was in military basic training, Andrea received a call from the Red Cross. Seeing the name on her phone initially worried her. Instead, she learned the Red Cross was checking to make sure it had the correct contact information in case her family ever needed to be reached.

"It just felt so comforting," Andrea said. "They were so nice and so upbeat. I was like, oh, wow."

Then, during conversations about joining the chapter board, Andrea began learning about the breadth of the Red Cross mission, including its work to support patients living with sickle cell disease.

"I just kept saying, I didn't know. I didn't know," she recalled.

The more she learned, the more she began thinking about what she could do.

"I want to help. I want to do this," Andrea said.

Connecting communities with a need

Since joining the board, Andrea has helped bring her different communities together. She has shared what she has learned with her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority chapter and helped support blood drives alongside other organizations. She's also interested in reaching people who may not typically attend blood drives by building new community connections.

That outreach can make an important difference for people living with sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is the most common genetic blood disorder in the U.S., affecting an estimated 100,000 people. The disease causes red blood cells to become hard and crescent-shaped instead of soft and round, making it difficult for blood to flow smoothly and carry oxygen throughout the body. This can lead to severe pain, anemia, tissue and organ damage and strokes.

For some people living with sickle cell disease, regular blood transfusions are critical to managing the disease and its complications. Some may need as many as 100 units of blood each year.

Repeated transfusions can make finding compatible blood more difficult if a patient develops an immune response to blood that is not closely matched. For patients living with sickle cell disease, blood donors who are Black are almost three times more likely to be a match for the blood most commonly needed.

For Andrea, helping more people understand that need is personal.

“It’s moving for me. It really is,” Andrea said.

Planting seeds of awareness

As someone who has spent her career teaching, Andrea believes knowledge can help people see how they can make a difference.

When talking with people who are hesitant about blood donation, she often asks them to consider what they would want if someone they loved needed blood.

"If you were in the hospital and your loved one was in the hospital, what would you want to happen if they needed blood?" Andrea said.

She has seen the question change conversations.

"Then it gets to be a little quiet and everyone's kind of looking around the room and then they're like, where do I sign up?" Andrea said.

Her goal isn't only to encourage blood donation. Andrea wants to continue learning about the Red Cross mission so she can help people throughout her community discover the different ways they can get involved.

"I want to be that person that has that knowledge so that I can inform and enlighten people," Andrea said.

Each conversation creates another opportunity to plant a seed, whether that means helping someone better understand sickle cell disease, encouraging someone to give blood or introducing them to part of the Red Cross mission they didn't know existed.

"I just want to make the community more aware," Andrea said.

And as she continues to learn, teach and serve, Andrea believes she has found the right place to do it.

"I don't know if it's just the people, if it's the mission, if it's the principles of the organization, or a combination of all, but I'm really convinced that this is where I'm supposed to be."