Miss Universe Jamaica 2011 Shakira Martin who was hospitalised and was on a life support machine in a Florida Hospital died on Tuesday night, August 2.

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The news about Shakira’s conditions was revealed by her mother Andrea Hall in a Facebook post late Tuesday evening...

"As I sit here with my daughter Shakira Aminah on life support saying good bye with family and friends... sickle cell is no joke please learn about it. Support someone. God bless you Shakira Martin I love you eternally," she wrote.

Shakira Martin Miss Universe Jamaica 2011 

Matin’s death was confirmed by her close friend Laura Butler who shared that she had been taken off life support.

"Shakira is gone," said Butler.

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Shakira Martin who was crowned Miss Universe Jamaica in 2011 was a long time sickle cell patient. The term sickle cell disease (SCD) describes a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. People with SCD have abnormal haemoglobin, called haemoglobin S or sickle haemoglobin, in their red blood cells.

Martin’s mom in an emotional Facebook post urged Jamaicans to not take the hereditary blood disease lightly.  “As I sit here with my daughter Shakira Aminah on life support saying goodbye with family and friends. Sickle cell is no joke, please [be] aware, learn about it. Support someone. God bless you Shakira Martin, I love you eternally,” Hall wrote.

Right after her crowning, Martin while talking to the media revealed that she had plans to increase awareness about the sickle cell disease by helping with research and promoting care options. "You want to try and prevent this crisis from occurring as much as possible," she said at that time.

Shakira did her best to spread awareness about the sickle cell anaemia and told of her personal fight with the disease having been diagnosed at 3 months old.

 “The things that I want to accomplish, may be 'cliche' for a beauty queen, but those are the things that are genuinely in my heart. World peace, a solution to starvation, hugging trees and all that jazz. It's all a part of the plan,” Shakira Martin wrote on her Facebook page.

Our heart goes out to her family and friends. May her soul rest in peace..!!

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