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You'd probably never know this woman's had a debilitating disease since birth.

Cassandra Trimnell was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia in 1987 when she was just a baby.

She inherited the gene that causes this disease from both of her parents, meaning she has sickle cell type SS.This means she can experience the worst symptoms — including fatigue, extreme joint pain, anemia, and infections — at a higher rate.  

She's not the only one with sickle cell in her family either. Her younger sister Joanne was also born with it, and two of her other siblings have the trait, which means they don't have the disease but can pass it along to their children.

While she never had that shocking moment of hearing her diagnosis for the first time, she always knew she was different.

Cassandra as a child. Photo via Cassandra Trimnell.

When she started school, she had to constantly drink water and stay inside during recess when it was too hot or too cold to avoid pain episodes. Kids would occasionally ask her if she was contagious. It all made her feel incredibly isolated.

She was always a lot smaller and skinnier than the other kids at school, which meant that others often treated her like she was more fragile.

As a kid she also regularly felt sick and was in the hospital on a monthly basis. This often affected what she desperately wanted to do. For example, she was in a choir that was going on tour for which she had been planning and practicing for months. However, on the day they were supposed to leave, Trimnell was in the hospital.

Cassandra (left) with her sister Joanna. Photo via Cassandra Trimnell.

However, her mom was wonderful about helping her cope with the disease, and most importantly, she didn't treat her like she was going to break.

"You’re not like everybody else," Trimnell recalls her mom saying. "You need to look out for yourself. Look out for your health."

One aspect of sickle cell anemia that makes it such a difficult disease is that its symptoms aren't always visible to others.

"It’s like you’re fighting these invisible demons that nobody sees," Trimnell says. "Some of my earliest childhood memories are being hunched over in excruciating pain thinking I was going to die," she says.

This lack of visible "proof" that sickle cell disease is debilitating is one of the more frustrating aspects of living with it. You might see someone with sickle cell going through a pain crisis, but from the outside it just looks like they're playing a game on their phone. That's actually a coping method.

"We’re on our phones playing games because we’re distracting ourselves from the pain," Trimnell says.

Cassandra in the hospital with her husband. Photo via Cassandra Trimnell.

While it is the most common genetic condition around the world, it's rarer in the United States, which makes it even less visible.

And the current lack of understanding about symptoms and treatment among the general publiccan go from irritating to downright scary when someone with the disease goes to the hospital. Sometimes emergency room doctors don't believe sickle cell patients are in as much pain as they are because they seem to be handling it OK, which in turn affects their care.

"If doctors don’t think your pain is serious, then you won’t get treated seriously," Trimnell explains.

This is why Trimnell is now committed to raising sickle cell awareness.

Trimnell and members of Sickle Cell 101 at the 2017 Health and Resource Expo at Lincoln Elementary. Photo via Cassandra Trimnell.

She launched her nonprofit, Sickle Cell 101, in 2013. The idea came from a college biology course and an Instagram account.

When her biology class got around to talking about blood disorders like sickle cell, she was shocked by how unfamiliar her classmates were with it.

So shedecided to get creativeto give people a better understanding of the disease.

She began posting a number of facts on Instagram and received an overwhelming positive response.

#SickleCell red blood cells can squeeze through most blood vessels! #SickleCellEducation

A post shared by Sickle Cell 101 (@sicklecell101) on

Just like that, she was on the path to raising awareness full time. And today, her nonprofit specializes in educating the sickle cell community as well as the general public on various aspects of the disease.

The goal is to help people with the disease be treated with more mindfulness, especially if they're children, which is how Trimnell should've been treated when she was younger.

Trimnell knows she's not like everyone else, but now she realizes it's better to talk openly about her disease rather than hide it.

Cassandra (left) with her sister Joanne. Photo via Cassandra Trimnell.

When she was little, she didn't mention it to friends because she didn't want to be pitied or treated like a patient. Today, she's constantly sharing the challenges sickle cell patients face so that kids growing up with the disease remember they're not alone.

She sends the same message to parents who've recently found out their child has sickle cell anemia.

"People have sickle cell all over the world. You won’t lead a normal life, but it’s not a death sentence."

The best way to live with sickle cell disease is to stay healthy, positive, and turn to the support of groups like Sickle Cell 101 and Sickle Cell Warriors.

For those who don't have the disease, the best way to support those who do is to read up on it.  The more people who understand it, the less isolated those living with it will feel.

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Sweden makes stunning decision to trademark its name to avoid confusion

The country is taking historic steps to fix the problem.

via Visit Sweden (used with permission)

A Swedish woman taking things into her own hands.

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Sweden has existed for over 1,000 years, but travelers across the globe are confused because other places, inspired by the country’s untouched beauty and joyously inclusive culture, have taken its name.

Seven other places in the world call themselves Sweden, so to distinguish itself from the name-alikes, the Kingdom of Sweden is taking a bold, historic step that no country has before. It’s become the first to apply to trademark its name with the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

Visit Sweden likens the country’s problem to a luxury brand that has to contend with dupes, knockoffs, or bootlegs that fall short of the glory of the genuine article.

“It’s flattering that other places want to be called Sweden, but let’s be honest, there should only be one. Our Sweden. The one with the Northern Lights, endless forests, and the world’s best flat-pack furniture,” says Susanne Andersson, CEO at Visit Sweden.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

By trademarking its name, Sweden will make things much less confusing for travelers worldwide. It’d be a shame for someone looking to visit Sweden’s majestic Lapland to mistakenly wind up in a place with no reindeer, Aurora Borealis, or cloudberries to be found.

The world-class research team at Visit Sweden knew it had to act when it realized that other destinations with the same name had tripped up travelers. People looking to vacation in Portland, Oregon, have accidentally wound up in Portland, Maine. Travelers yearning to experience the fall in Manchester, New Hampshire, have been deplaning in Manchester, England. “It happens more than you think!” the researchers admitted.


sweden, visit sweden, swedish vacation The Northern Lights in Sweden. via Visit Sweden, Photographer: Jann Lipka/imagebank.sweden.se

The E.U. Intellectual Property Office must act swiftly and allow Sweden to trademark its name so that travelers worldwide don’t miss the opportunity to experience an utterly unique country known for its serene landscapes, commitment to deep relaxation and personal freedom.

No one should ever miss out on staying on one of Sweden’s 267,570 islands, more than any other country. The Swedish archipelagos offer luxurious glamping, peaceful hikes, tranquil solitude and awe-inspiring, pristine nature.

sweden, visit sweden, swedish vacation A woman camping in the Swedish archipelago.via Visit Sweden, Photographer: Anders Klapp/imagebank.sweden.se


Sweden is a beautiful place to visit all year round, with bright summers, colorful falls, vibrant springs and dark, crisp winters. It is also a place to delight your tastebuds with a cuisine centered on healthy, locally sourced produce, with some preparation methods dating back to the Viking era.

The original Sweden is a place where one can relish Old World European history while also enjoying the modern pleasures of the most progressive countries in the world. Travelers can be whisked back into history by visiting the Naval Port of Karlskona, a well-preserved European naval town from 1680. Or, enjoy cutting-edge design, delicacies, art, music and culture in hip metropolitan destinations such as Stockholm or Sweden’s “coolest city,” Gothenburg.

Did we mention Sweden has an ABBA museum? Wait till the other 7 Swedens find out about that.

As you can see, Sweden is an incredibly unique destination that cannot be duplicated. It would be a tragedy for anyone intending to visit the original Sweden to mistakenly find themselves in a name-alike place that lacks its Scandinavian charm. You can do your part to stop the confusion by signing a petition to let Sweden trademark Sweden at Visit Sweden (the original).

sweden, visit sweden, swedish vacation A Swedish Midsommar celebration. via Visit Sweden, Photographer: Stefan Berg/Folio/imagebank.sweden.se

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Man attempts to rescue stray kitten and quickly discovers he got more than he bargained for

Here kitty, kitty! Oh wait, there are 12 more of you?

Photo by Dorothea OLDANI on Unsplash

It's kitten season!

Who can resist a sweet little kitten trying to cross the road? Even if you’re not a fan of cats, you’d likely stop for a baby animal in the street. That’s what happened to Robert Brantley of Louisiana. Brantley was on his way to work and spotted a tiny white and gray kitten trying to get across the street. Being a kind human, he stopped his car to bring the kitten to safety. But he got more than he bargained for, because as he was scooping up the little thing, several more kitty cat siblings came running out of the nearby grass.

In all, Brantley counted 13 kittens. Twelve more than he planned on caring for, but by the looks of his Instagram page, his family has taken their role of cat rescuers seriously. With kitten season being in full effect in these warmer months and pet surrenders remaining high since the return to work from the pandemic, Brantley taking on fostering 13 kittens is much needed. Humane societies across the country are reportedly full or even over capacity. My own local humane society currently has nearly 150 animals over its limit and is begging for foster families and adopters to help clear the shelter.

It’s not only humane societies that have reached or exceeded capacity. Animal rescues across the board are in dire need of people to take animals to make room for the inevitable drop off of puppies and kittens from the current litter season. Mating season, which subsequently turns into puppy and kitten season, starts in early spring and lasts throughout the summer. This inundates local shelters and rescues.

Some shelters, like my local humane society, are asking people who find litters of puppies or kittens to do exactly what Brantley is doing.

Foster them and attempt to adopt them out on their own. It looks like Brantley's wife decided to get these now cleaned up kitties in their Sunday best to have a photoshoot in her makeshift studio. One kitten sported a bow tie while the others climbed around the enclosure patiently awaiting their turn. It also seems Brantley himself is having fun with the situation—in one video he talks about what he packs to go on a marksmanship match and includes 13 kittens along with his tripod and toolkit.

In one of Brantley’s most recent updates, he says that two of the kittens, Michael Scott and Nala, have been adopted by a family in Alexandria, Louisiana. In the same update he informs his followers that one of the kittens still left to be adopted is currently on daily medication and the family is keeping up with check-ups for the rest of the furry crew.

Here’s hoping that all of these little guys get adopted out soon. And may more people take Brantley’s lead to foster the kittens or puppies they find if they have the means. This can also serve as a reminder to spay and neuter your pets and any strays you may be caring for outside of your home.


This article originally appeared two years ago.

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A 'Jeopardy!' question on U.S. presidents stumped everyone. Do you know the answer?

A president got away with murder.

via RTL/Wikimedia Commons

The "Jeopardy!" logo

The Friday, December 13, 2024, episode of “Jeopardy!” with host Ken Jennings featured returning one-day champion Ashley Chan, a publicist from Lewisville, Texas, taking on Ram Murali, a writer originally from London, England, and Carla Winston, a political scientist from Baltimore, Maryland. The most memorable question of the night stumped all three contestants and not one buzzed in with an answer.

The interesting thing is that the question was about a president who shot and killed someone under dubious circumstances. It’s proof that no matter how strange American politics feels in 2024, unscrupulous characters have always been vying for positions of power. The triple stumper clue was for $400 in U.S. Presidents category: “An 1806 duel involving this future president resulted in the death of Charles Dickinson.”

(Can you hear the “Jeopardy!” theme song playing in your head right now?)

The answer: “Who was Andrew Jackson?”

Some “Jeopardy!” superfans couldn’t believe no one got the answer right. “Surprised nobody got the Andrew Jackson clue,” a Redditor wrote on the Jeopardy! Subforum. “Yes, me too and I'm pretty sure Andrew Jackson's violent history has been a ‘Jeopardy!’ question in other episodes.”


Chan held the lead throughout the episode, with a slight lead over Murali going into the Final Jeopardy! round. Both contestants missed the final question, with Winston getting it right. But Chan scraped away a victory after underbetting on the final clue, winning for her second consecutive time.


Who did Andrew Jackson kill in a duel?

The duel in question was called in 1806 after tensions mounted between Jackson, a lawyer who had served in Tennessee’s senate and his rival, Dickinson. Dickinson made some offensive comments about Jackson’s wife, Rachel, and accused him of cheating on a horse bet. Rachel and Jackson had been seeing each other while she was separated from her husband. The couple eloped and married in 1793, but the divorce wasn’t final yet. After the divorce made it through the courts, the couple was officially married in 1794.

Dickinson also publicly called Jackson a “scoundrel and a coward.” This was the last straw and Jackson challenged Dickinson to a duel on May 30, 1806, on the Jeff Burr farm in Kentucky. Dickinson’s first bullet hit Jackson in the chest. Jackson’s first shot misfired, and according to the rules of engagement, Jackson should not have been allowed to refire. However, he did anyway and killed Dickinson. Jackson’s wounds weren’t fatal, but he would struggle with complications from the gun shot throughout the rest of his life.

Even though Jackson broke the rules of engagement, he was not tried for murder and went on to be elected president in 1829 and served two terms, ending in 1837. Jackson is known for being a populist who reshaped politics by founding the Democratic Party. He also signed the controversial Indian Removal Act, which led to the tragic Trail of Tears in which over 6,000 native Americans died.

Jackson died in June 1845.

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Subaru
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Joy

5 things that made us smile this week

The animal edition!

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Been stressed this week? Who hasn’t. That’s why we’re bringing you the latest in good news—five animal-themed stories we guarantee will put a smile on your face.

This week, we’re celebrating:

The most entertaining animal photos you've ever seen

Jason Moore/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023 and © Tzahi Finkelstein /Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023

Need a laugh? How about a dozen laughs? Look no further than the 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, a competition started in 2015 that focuses on the lighter side of wildlife photography. More than 1,800 photographers from around the world submitted photos, and the finalists—from a kangaroo playing air guitar to an arguing set of greenfinches—will absolutely make your day.

Healthier, happier, rescued pets

Hundreds of thousands of pets are relinquished to shelters each year, and many vulnerable pet populations—such as disabled and elderly dogs—can be hard to place in loving homes. Fortunately, Subaru has sponsored the rescue, rehabilitation, and adoption of more than 134,000 of these pets through the Subaru Share the Love® Event. As the largest corporate donor to the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®), Subaru and its retailers are donating a minimum of $300 to charities like the ASPCA for every new Subaru purchase or lease during the 2024 Subaru Share the Love Event, happening now through January 2, 2025.

This animal-centric (and adorable) creative writing assignment 

Amy McKinney, a third-grade teacher in Pennsylvania, recently had a genius idea for teaching her class persuasive writing: Rather than have them formulate an argument for an imagined audience (boring!), McKinney partnered with a local animal shelter and had her class write persuasive descriptions of each animal to help them get adopted. Each student chose a pet to write about and sent their essays to the shelter to display and post to the shelter’s social media channels. Student engagement was “tremendous,” said McKinney, and there’s no doubt these persuasive paragraphs made a huge difference in these shelter pet’s lives. Adorable.

The dog who saved his owner with CPR (yes, really)

Dogs have made the news for saving humans before, but have you ever heard of a dog performing CPR? That’s exactly what Bear, a Siberian Husky-Golden Retriever mix, did in 2022 when he found his owner unconscious on the floor after suffering a major heart attack. Not only was Bear able to quickly call for help, he even jumped on his owner’s chest repeatedly while someone else called the paramedics. Thanks to Bear, the owner survived what should have been a fatal heart attack. Now that deserves some head scritches.

Bee populations have reached a record high

macro shot photography of beePhoto by Jenna Lee on Unsplash

Honeybees are essential to the planet, as they pollinate over 130 types of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. For years, honeybee numbers have been in decline—but happily, that’s starting to change. The US has added almost a million bee colonies in the past five years, with more than 3.8 million honeybees in total.

For more ways to smile, check out how Subaru is sharing the love this holiday season.

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A guy and his friends shared their travel plans. The results perfectly explain the wealth gap.

What on Jeff Bezos's green earth did we just watch?

TikTok/@tcruznc

Sometimes you see something so mind-boggling you have to take a minute to digest what just happened in your brain. Be prepared to take that moment while watching these videos.

Real estate investor and TikTok user Tom Cruz shared two (now deleted) videos explaining the spreadsheets he and his friends use to plan vacations. They call it the "Forbes List" and it's...well...something. Watch the first one, kindly posted by @Radio_Reem on X:

So, "Broke Bobby" makes $125,000 a year. There's that.

How about the fact that his guy has more than zero friends who budget $80,000 for a 3-day getaway? Y'all, I wouldn't know how to spend $80,000 in three days if you paid me to. Especially if we're talking about a trip with friends where we're all splitting the cost. Like what does this even look like? Are they flying in private jets that burn dollar bills as fuel? Are they bathing in hot tubs full of cocaine? I genuinely don't get it.



But that's not even the full spreadsheet. It might make sense if this guy was just rich, had always been rich, and only knew rich people, therefore making have a friend group made up of multiple millionaires his norm. Surely that's the reality for some born into the 1%.

But that's not the case here. Though the video is no longer gracing TikTok, Cruz shared that he also has a "Welfare 10 List." He says this group of friends who make less than $100K a year call themselves that, and perhaps that's true. (If I were a part of this group, I might call myself a welfare case too because everything's relative and some of these dudes spend more in an hour of vacation than I spend on my mortgage each month.)

To be crystal clear, the top 5 friends on the "Forbes List" are willing to spend more than double what the guy at the bottom of the "Welfare 10 List "makes per year on a 3-day guy's trip. I don't know what to do with this information.

It's like we can see our society's wealth gap all laid out nice and neatly in a spreadsheet, only these people aren't even the uber-wealthy and uber-poor. This is just the range of this one guy's friends.

I have nothing against people who build success and wealth for themselves, and even $5 million per year is hardly obscenely wealthy by billionaire standards. But Cruz says he's known most of his "welfare" friends since college, which presumably means most of those guys have college degrees and are making a pittance in comparison with the "Forbes List." One could claim the guy making $5 million a year just works harder, but does he really work 100 times harder than the guy making $50,000? Doubt it.

Money makes money, and after a certain threshold of wealth or income, it's actually quite easy to get and stay rich without actually "earning" more money (assuming you're reasonably wise and responsible). So, maybe the guys who are willing to shell out $125,000 for a week-long trip should offer to pay the travel expenses of the friends they "hang out with regardless of income" who don't even make that in a year, since that's probably just the interest they're making on their wealth anyway.

But what do I know? This is like an entirely different world to me and probably 99+% of Americans, as evidenced by some of the responses.

Naturally, there will be a range of incomes in any group of people, but 1) most of us don't actually know how much our friends make, and 2) even fewer of us make spreadsheets with that information in order to rank our friends and figure out who can go on which vacations.

People are just endlessly fascinating. That's all I've got.


This article originally appeared three years ago.

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She died of ALS 11 months before Christmas, but left one last gift with help of Secret Santa

She knew it would be her last chance to surprise her husband—even if she wasn't around to see it.

Photo credit: Canva

Nearly a year before Christmas, dying woman sets up last gift for husband.

Christmastime can be hard for some people due to the loss of a loved one. It can be especially difficult if it's the first Christmas without them here to celebrate. You look around your house and nothing quite feels the same because you're acutely aware that someone is missing. Being around other loved ones can help ease the transition of that person no longer excitedly waiting for you to open the gift that they worked hard to pick out, but one family got a surprise from a lost loved one that they never expected.

At the start of 2024, Idaho mom and wife Kjerstin Cook lost her battle with the terminal degenerative disease ALS, leaving a hole in the hearts of her family and friends. But because she was aware of her impending early death, she wanted to ensure she left her husband one last gift, even if she wasn't around to see it.

Cook knew about a local Secret Santa that helped families every Christmas, so though she was aware the holiday was nearly a year away, the wife took the chance to write the Secret Santa just weeks before she died on February 11, 2024. Due to Kjerstin's ALS diagnosis, she was unable to hold a pen or type on a computer, so she used an iPad and wrote using eye movements. With the help of her friend, the letter was submitted for consideration of this last gift to her husband.

person holding white tablet computer Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

East Idaho News reports that her friend added a little addendum to the letter explaining how hard Kjerstin worked to write the letter herself before her passing, saying in part, "At the time of writing this letter, she had lost the ability to speak, and used an iPad to communicate. She would use her eyes to tediously look at each letter on a keypad that was visible on the iPad screen that had to be perfectly set up within her eyesight and prick out each letter. I sat with her as she typed each word with her eyes for the letter that was composed for this nomination. It took many hours and so much strength from her to do this."

made in Santa's Workshop tag Photo by Samuel Holt on Unsplash

Kjerstin's letter reads:

"Dear Secret Santa,

I realize getting a nomination in February is unusual, but unfortunately, I won’t be around in December, so hopefully, you will consider the request.

Back in 2020 I started passing out. Over the past almost four years, my health has continued to deteriorate to the point that I need full-time care. I’m a quadriplegic and I can’t eat regular food. Finally after years of specialist after specialist and every test they could think of, I finally got a diagnosis of ALS.

It took so long I was near the end already and the doctor gave me three to six months and I am on the fourth month so understanding that I won’t be here for another Christmas, I would like to nominate Dustin Cook for all the service he has provided over the past years. For those who don’t know much about ALS, it is hard to explain just how much you lose. I am completely dependent on him for everything, and he continues to amaze me with the depth of his love and compassion.

He has tried and succeeded at taking on all of the household duties, finances, all the cooking, and cleaning – all while taking care of me which could be a full-time job and he does it in a way to make sure I know it is not a burden and somehow makes me laugh hysterically.

Before this all started, we had saved a little bit of money to do some fun things to our backyard. Nothing fancy – just fix a fence and extend the patio and get a pergola to have a little shade. Obviously when I got sick, there were a lot more places for that money to go, especially since I had to quit working in 2021.

My request for Secret Santa is for Dustin to have a comfortable shady spot to read his book. He’s the most giving compassionate person I have ever known. Thank you for your consideration of Dustin Cook."

bokeh photography of Santa Claus Photo by Srikanta H. U on Unsplash

East Idaho News says they've never received a letter like this in the 10 years they've been helping with the Secret Santa. These helper elves were determined to make sure Kjerstin was able to honor Dustin's dedication to her with a shady spot to read a book. They tracked him down to present him with $15k of landscaping to build a quiet oasis for him to read under the shade of a pergola in his backyard.

Dustin was so touched that he could barely speak as he attempted to control his emotions, saying he had no idea she had written in a Secret Santa request. "The last several months, we had a Tobii Dynavox through AOS and it read her eyes and it would text, but it was very slow to do," Dustin shares with East Idaho News. "With the help of her friend, friends, many friends, she wrote lots of things for our sons and things like that. Yeah, I had no...no idea."

In the end, he thanks his wife saying he's been blessed to have her in his life for the last 30 years. Clearly, Kjerstin felt the same way about Dustin and used all of her strength to make sure he knew how much she appreciated him, even after she was gone.

Dustin told People he has one thing he wants people to take away from his story: "I just hope this inspires others to do good. Kjerstin had phrases on the wall of our home that said, 'Do Good' and 'Believe there is Good in the World' with the words 'Be the Good' highlighted. That's something she always did and we will continue her legacy."

In honor of Kjerstin, go out and do good.

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