Each day, our diverse team of nearly 130,000 employees is focused on bringing the best of what’s next to our customers and audiences. That makes the pace of change here pretty rapid – but one thing that does not change at Comcast is our employees’ commitment to giving back, some for more personal reasons than others.

I’d like to introduce you to Dermot L. Jones, a Comcast employee from Northern California.  Dermot has spent nearly every day of his life – including the 15 years he has worked at Comcast – fighting an incurable disease:  sickle cell anemia. 

Diagnosed at age 2, Dermot spent half his childhood in the hospital.  Now as an adult, he routinely battles chronic pain and fatigue, and is more susceptible than most people to other illnesses. "If you look at me, I don’t look like I have anything wrong with me. But I do," says Dermot, who installs fiber circuits for our Comcast Business clients. 

Over the years, Dermot has learned to manage his illness, and at work he has largely kept his condition to himself – until now. He chose to share his story through a video in support of our Comcast and NBCUniversal United Way campaign, held each October. Every year, our employees inspire giving among their colleagues by sharing their personal reasons for supporting United Way, which is the first community organization Comcast partnered with after our founding 50 years ago.  

United Way supports many sickle cell-related organizations including one dear to Dermot, the American Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, which provides testing and educational services to patients and their families.  "It’s important for me to give back and help people find ways to live successfully with sickle cell anemia," Dermot says. 

I invite you to watch Dermot share firsthand why he supports United Way in the video above. You’ll also get to meet three other employees: Marilyn L. Brewer, whose family received assistance from the American Red Cross after an apartment fire; Ronni Attenello, an NBCUniversal employee whose son with special needs lives independently thanks to the Arc of Farmington Valley; and Michael Mascaro, a former "Little" who is now a "Big" through our partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. 

The generosity of our employees is at the heart of our culture at Comcast, and I am proud to be a part of it.