Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario (SCAGO) was created in June 2005 in memory of Sunday Afolabi and previously known as Seed of Life Philanthropic organization (SOLPO).

It is Ontario’s largest patient support and advocacy organization providing evidence-based support and services to enhance the quality of life of families with children, adolescents and adults, with sickle cell disease (SCD). It is a 100% volunteer-driven charitable organization.

Services and Programs offered by SCAGO include: 

1. Knowledge Translation among Health Care Providers: Educational updates for health care providers through Lunch and Learn (L&L) programs in hospitals. This improves the knowledge base of care providers around sickle cell disease to ensure more patients access standardized care in Ontario hospitals no matter where they live in the province.
2. Preventative Care Support: Empowerment and education of patients and their families through programs such as Learning for Life (LFL) Seminars, and Peers and Families (P&P) Support Network. The LFL and P&P programs have broaden the social circle of the families we support and improve their psycho-social, mental and emotional well-being. It reduces feelings of isolation, stigma and related mental stressors while empowering the families in self-advocacy and adherence to prescribed treatment among other benefits. Many of our families have reported improved self-management and that the programs have allowed them to be more in tuned with their own health.
3. Transition Support: SCAGO contributes to the educational advancement of students with SCD by providing transition to post-secondary education support and scholarship grants. Evidently, hundreds of families with SCD have benefited from this program and the Sunday Afolabi (SA) scholarship grant have been provided to over 25 youths with SCD to date.
4. Emergency Support: A one-time/year emergency grant provided to families in dire financial need for the purchase of supplements, extra nourishing food, etc. to support optimal health.
5. Respite Support: SCAGO understands that taking care of a sick loved one could be stressful and highly demanding. As such, it provides respite grant to caregivers in the low income bracket to allow them to get a well-deserved break while their sick loved one is being taken care of.
6. Public Awareness: SCAGO provides public awareness about disease inheritance, the need for testing for the sickle cell trait and genetic counseling as required. We believe this will reduce the number of new SCD births as more people make informed procreation choices.
7. Research: SCAGO supports clinical and psycho-social research around SCD. We also create programs such as the Young Students Research Award to stimulate the interest of more students and fellows in SCD related research.