At the age of three months, it was discovered that I had the SS genotype. My mum said that my feet swole up and I was crying uncontrollably. When they took me to the hospital and did a blood test, it was discovered that my genotype was SS.

At the time I was born, Sickle cell anaemia was very prevalent as a result of ignorance not presently that there is some awareness about it and dating couples use this as a criteria not to proceed with marriage rites.
From the age of three months, my long journey of pain started. Very little things could trigger pains (crisis) and I remember being sick and on admission at the hospital frequently.

Having malaria was so prevalent in those days and one of the symptoms is fever. On many occasions I remember (as a little child) being rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and my mum would put me under a tap of water and proceed to leave me undressed on her thighs, directly under the fan at the hospital whilst waiting to see a doctor.
Note that Malaria also triggers crisis in warriors.

What didn’t I become accustomed to? was it drinking Nivaquine or the frequent injections or taking intravenous fluid? I remember vividly at a tender age, I braced up and told myself that I would no longer cry for intravenous needles. The doctor on duty that day while I was on admission was so impressed that he pointed at me and was telling another child (about the same age) to brace up like I did.

Caregivers of SCD warriors, you need to understand that the crisis of any warrior is excruciating. I’m still single hence, I would have told you if sickle cell crisis is actually worse than child birth pangs. Oh yes! it is so very possible, because if you are a warrior you have the tendency to become accustomed to pain, that minute pains like hitting your leg on the table don’t move you because you have seen worse.

With time I got to understand that not only was there normal crisis in being a warrior, there was also bone crisis. I would cry unending for hours, because the pain I felt was deep inside my bones and no amount of pain relievers could soothe it only water, hence the need for intravenous fluids. “Oh! what life and sorrow had I come to bear”? I would sometimes ponder.

Bone crisis was horrible, the worst bone crisis I ever went through as an adult was when the doctors actually resulted to giving me Morphine but even then, nothing could soothe the pain I was feeling. I would weep until the injection kicked in and I slept off and when I would wake, I would continue weeping because the pain had started all over again. I was on admission for days until a particular day, I pleaded with the doctor on duty to give me the injection intramuscularly and not through my veins and that was when I realized that the pain begun to dissipate.

What is bone crisis? I hear you ask, well it is crisis of the bone marrow and it could occur on any part of the body. I think the worst I’ve experienced was on my buttocks, it’s like the bone of your buttocks wanted to rip apart from your body. Bone crisis was just one in the number. There were also stomach aches. you just can’t breath, your stomach walls would be clenching.

I’m not saying this to scare you Caregivers of warriors. I’m saying it to prepare you so that you know exactly what to expect. For you couples who are thinking of getting married irrespective of your genotypes matching, you don’t know the gravity of what you are about to walk into because of love. Note that a time would come when your warrior offspring would question if you married out of ignorance or knowingly. It’s hard enough on them that they have to bear such pain but knowing that you were aware before giving birth, is like indirectly telling them that you do not love them. So please I beg you couples dating on such grounds to please walk away.
Yes its painful , but there is nothing more painful than watching your offspring go through such sorrow. It breaks you heart and literally rends it in pieces. You always fear and think of the worst.

In my case, my mother and father were both carriers of the sickle cell trait (AS and AS genotypes) and I happen to be the only one that inherited the SS genotype amongst my siblings.

Now to all Caregivers of warriors, I urge you to make it your point of duty to speak words of life to the souls of your warrior offspring/siblings/relatives. It goes such a long way because words are spirit. The more you speak such words into their life, the more you give them the strength to fight and bear. Always note that only Jehovah can heal but your part and those of the doctors is to care.

There is still so much I’m going to share at my next and subsequent posts. Just take heart warriors. I say to you,
‘It is well and will end in praise”.