Heartbeat: My Friend Jen – a story about a girl who’s a little bit different

April 21, 2020

Acclaimed sickle cell author, Jenica Leah recently launched her second book in the My Friend Jen series. Coinciding with World Book Day on 5 March, the launch held in Birmingham celebrated the release of her latest book called The Check Up.

The inspirational story told by her friend follows Jen as she embarks upon a hospital visit for her sickle cell check-up.

He introduces her by saying, “My friend Jen is as fun as can be. She wears her hair big and high for everyone to see.”

Whilst this may be fiction, the story itself is rooted in fact. Jenica has sickle cell and is a patient of ours at City Hospital.

Speaking exclusively to Heartbeat, she remarked, “City Hospital is where I have been cared for since I was a teenager.

They have a dedicated sickle cell and thalassaemia centre that provides day care for patients, which I attend.”

When talking about her motivation to create these books, Jenica said, “I’ve had sickle cell from birth and, I was in and out of hospital growing up. I didn’t understand my condition, so I grew up in isolation, unable to explain what I had or how it affected me.”

“Living with an invisible illness has led me to create my children’s book series, My Friend Jen.

I want other children growing up with sickle cell to have the peace of mind growing up that I didn’t have. I pride myself on not letting my condition stop me achieving my goals. I want other children to grow up and have that same motivation.”

Eddie Edmead, Major Grants Manager for Your Trust Charity, attended the book launch.

He said, “It was great to catch up with Jen again. We have worked together before for the launch of her first book. This was a fantastic event that was well put together.

It was great to see so many people there to support her and help raise awareness of sickle cell.”