KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kevin Wake has suffered three strokes. He is only 54. The first one taught him how humiliating an emergency room visit can be for Black people living with the blood disorder sickle cell disease.
It happened in Chicago, where the Kansas native was living in 1999. By the time he arrived by ambulance at the hospital he was immobile, unable to stand or speak.
“They started triaging me as Black male in his 30s who is either intoxicated or high on drugs,” Wake recalled recently.
