Yesterday I was seated at my physician's clinic waiting to see him this time not for treatment but for a friendly chat. A lady came out of the treatment room in a lot of pain and came where i was seated with an old woman. Her body signaled that she wanted to sit there yet her mother was asking her to go and sit in the car as they waited for the prescription. I gave her space to sit but she was in too much pain. She still had the energy to greet us but the words were not clear.
She was having pain in the arms and neck. I did not ask her anything because she could not talk. But with the pain she was in and her ability to greet us I just thought that she a sickle cell warrior.
Minutes after her departure a nurse asked me whether I had seen her, I told her she was seated next to me. She told me the lady is also a sickle cell warrior and had her wedding lately and now a mother.
The same nurse narrated to me the story of her neighbor who has 15 years old boy sickler (first born). She gave birth to the second born and was free from sickle cell disease. The last born now is 7 years old and also a sickler.
The lady refused to accept that her other child has sickle cell disease. When this nurse asked hen she denied. The lady has trekked a number of hospitals repeating the same test and praying that her last born at least be carrier but all the signs the boy has are of a sickler. But all the test come out showing the child with sickle cell disease
It has taken her a number of years and several tests in different hospitals and laboratories to at least now accept that her child has sickle cell disease.
Many people are still living in denial. More awareness and sensitization about sickle cell disease is still needed. Each one should teach one.
A sickle cell free generation is possible and it begins with you.
#besickleaware
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