Lathan Singleton

I was born with sickle cell disease, and from the very beginning it shaped my life—I experienced its chaos before I could even speak. Pain became my earliest teacher, forcing me to fight for my life time and time again. Each battle cultivated a depth of empathy, patience, and emotional awareness far beyond my years.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that causes red blood cells to become rigid and crescent-shaped, blocking blood flow and depriving organs and limbs of oxygen. Those blockages are the source of the intense pain that molded me not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually, shaping the person and advocate I am today.

I advocate and use my voice because I know firsthand the turmoil patients endure, and I believe we must find better ways to support them. There remains a significant knowledge gap surrounding sickle cell disease, and I recognized early on that sharing my lived experience could help close that gap. In my youth, a classmate gave birth to a child with sickle cell disease, and I was asked to help educate the family on what it meant to raise a child with this condition. When that child experienced his first pain crisis, I saw myself. That moment reaffirmed my purpose—to ensure patients and families are never left to navigate this journey alone. That family changed my life and helped shape the advocate I am today, fueling my lifelong commitment to advocacy and compassionate support for people with chronic conditions. I look at all of us as family

In the United States, I founded and lead The Unspoken Hero Society, an organization born directly from lived experience. Our work exists for patients who have been harmed, dismissed, or overlooked within hospital systems—those who were expected to endure in silence. We focus on patient navigation, mentorship, resource connection, and advocacy, and we host blood drives to ensure our sickle cell community has access to the life-saving care they depend on.

In Tijuana, Baja California, I serve as a Community Health Worker and committee member for a local orphanage and shelter, and I am the founder of Sociedad Faro (Lighthouse Society)—a patient-led, CHW-driven humanitarian initiative. Alongside our partners, we provide access to care, advocacy, health navigation, consultation, shelter support, and deeply relational accompaniment to residents, refugees, and asylum seekers living with sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait, and other chronic conditions throughout Baja. Together, we work to ensure that no one in the community is left without medical attention simply because of where they are or what they lack.

I am both a Community Health Worker and a battle-tested patient. Sickle cell disease has taken much from me—time, energy, and ease—but it has also given me an unshakable clarity of purpose. It has taught me how to recognize pain before it is spoken, how to sit with suffering without judgment, and how to walk beside others with dignity and compassion. I created The Unspoken Hero Society and Sociedad Faro to be places of protection, understanding, and belonging—to ensure that anyone living with a chronic condition is seen, supported, and never forced to navigate illness alone.