gametimect.com | February 2, 2015 | by Joe Morelli

Jason Shea has coached Karim Cisse throughout his Notre Dame-West Haven basketball career, first as the JV coach and now as the varsity coach with Cisse a co-captain this season.

Cisse is averaging 9.7 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. He leads. He’s an honor roll student. But that is only a part of the reason why Shea thinks so highly of Cisse.

“We (along with wife Melissa) hope our son is half the person Karim is,” Shea said. “He is that good of a person. He is the most respectful, he is the most unselfish, he’s the most caring, he’s the best leader, he has all the intangible qualities you would want in a person.”

A bigger part of the reason why Shea has grown so close to Cisse is Cisse’s relationship with his older brother Bobo, who battles sickle cell disease. Several times a year, Bobo spends extended periods in the hospital recuperating from painful attacks from the disease.

And each time that happens, Karim spends most of his free time at the hospital until Bobo comes home.
“If he is in the hospital, I am there for him,” said Karim, 17. “He is basically the person who taught me how to play basketball, he is the person who is constantly there for me, he has been that person in my life, so I need to be there for him too.”

Notre Dame’s game against rival West Haven on Feb. 17 will also be used as a benefit game to raise money to help fight sickle cell disease, a disease that doesn’t get a lot of notice.

“I want people to be aware of what sickle cell is and help out as much as you can, help in any way,” Cisse said.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder. While normal red blood cells are round, cells infected by sickle cell form into a crescent shapes. Then they stick to the walls of the blood vessels, which not only blocks blood flow, but also causes severe pain.

There is no cure.

Bobo, 22, said the severe attacks, called sickle cell crisis, come three to four times a year. Both Karim and Bobo said the stays at Yale/New Haven Hospital can be for a week or two. Bobo has had the disease since birth.
“It’s a confidence downer,” Bobo said. “How can I take care of my own children (he doesn’t have any currently) if I am constantly sick? I have to try to stay as strong as I can. I have to take morphine every day until I get out (of the hospital). Morphine can stay a long time in your system and I’m pretty sluggish the entire time it’s in there.”
Said Karim: “He says it is like a sharp, knifing pain everywhere, from his neck, to his back, elbows, wrist, knees, everywhere. It doesn’t stop until he takes the medication.”

In those instances, Karim goes from school to the hospital to stay with him. He eats there, sleeps there, does his homework there. When it has happened during the season, then he goes from practice or a game to the hospital. Cisse said he would stay up past midnight doing homework at the hospital.

Bobo said the last attack he had was shortly before last Christmas.

“You have to constantly protect yourself against the cold weather. I have to bundle up to the max (when going outside),” Bobo said.

Although Cisse and his mother, Mahou, have the trait for sickle cell, neither has ever had an attack.
“When his brother is going to the hospital. It’s a pretty severe thing,” Shea said.

Notre Dame raised money toward cancer research during a game last season. Shea suggested to the administration to have the proceeds this year go toward sickle cell research.

The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Southern Connecticut, Inc., is supposed to have a booth at the game to educate people about the disease and a representative will speak at halftime. Most of the proceeds from the game will go to fighting the disease.

T-shirts will be sold in advance. Those purchasing the shirts will gain free admission to the game and those proceeds will also go toward the research.

“Here is a player on our roster whose brother is dealing with a disease no one really knows anything about,” Shea said. “I thought it would be great to do that for him. But I wanted to clear it with Karim first.”

Cisse found out from Shea in November. “I kept saying thank you to (Shea),” he said.

Cisse is considering a number of schools, including Franklin Pierce, Quinnipiac, Hartford, Lasell, and Manhattanville. Only Manhattanville thus far is interested in him for basketball.

Cisse would like to continue his playing career, but it is not essential. What is essential is what he will major in: physical therapy.

“I would like to wake up every day knowing I am going to help somebody,” he said.

And the hope is wherever Cisse attends school next fall, Bobo will be there, or somewhere nearby.

Bobo said he has a couple of years left to complete his degree in communications.

“The plan is to be as close to each other as possible,” Bobo said. “Karim is my motor and I’m his biggest fan. I will always try to support him in what he does and he does the same for me. No matter what I do, he has my back.”