Sometimes living with Sickle Cell Disease could give one a thousand limitations to live by, but guess what? Such limitations don’t define us. I’d like to tag some warriors who chose to overcome nonetheless. Although the impediments were set for them whilst growing up, they all braced up. Below are their true-life accounts. I hope it encourages us, warriors because we definitely need to defy the norm. Reference: @sicklecell101 – Faces of Sickle Cell “Proving Them Wrong”.

This is quite an odd narrative I’m about to share but it is a true-life account of the challenges we warriors experience daily. It states in detail what it was like growing up for Mr. Adekunle Gold, a Nigerian highlife singer/songwriter who gained popularity, after releasing the 2015 hit single “Sade”. Tagged as “Surviving Sickle Cell to become a music star”. His account in every single way narrates my personal experiences shared on this blog. Please see below the link to the post which was shared on the Instagram handle of lindaikejiblogofficial. Reference: @lindaikejiblogofficial – “My Truth”

Now to talk about warriors that are doing exceptional things and rising above their daily challenges. I came across a warrior named Lateesia. She is 39 years old and she and her hubby Matthew have a business called “Pressed 2 Imprezz” which was started to give Lateesia something to do since she cannot hold down a normal job. The business involves taking your ideas and creativity and bringing them to life in form of T-Shirts, Gift baskets, Glasses, Water Bottles, etc. They personalize your purchases by branding them with unique emblems. The business was started initially with the aim of…

Being a mom and sole caregiver of a child with sickle cell anemia has been very challenging. I have been asked questions like “why didn’t you test yourselves before marriage”? One day someone said that our parents were not very aware about genotype so she could understand their mistake but as for me, what was my excuse? I had always known that my genotype was AS, even rejected a marriage proposal in the past as a result of this. So I was very aware….. when I met my husband and things started looking serious for our relationship, the first question…

The liver transplant!!!! I had just turned 40 and was on top of the world. I didn’t think I will live to see 40 so for me it was a landmark. My daughter and I had settled in Southend. She was thriving in school and I loved my job and the flexibility it afforded me. I had gotten over my heartbreak and was living life to the full. Life was good. So when in February 2015 after a usual health screen I was told I had liver disease it was a terrible blow. My whole world crumbled right before my…

My name is Jai and I have the SS genotype which was diagnosed when I was born. I used to get chronic transfusions, used to have a Port-A-Cath (i.e an indwelling catheter for transfusion), I’ve had acute chest syndrome over eleven times and have also had my gallbladder removed. It seems the older I get the more pain I’m in. I’ve been in the hospital every month since May 2020 whilst being a college student and it was hard doing both. I graduated from college in May and now I am going to nursing school to become a nurse to…

My name is Chuk Obanye. I was born with Sickle cell anaemia in May 1980. I am happily married with 3 beautiful daughters. The aim of my brief background introduction is to provide hope to anyone currently suffering from Sickle cell anaemia and to simply share with you some of my experiences along with some tips on managing the effect of this blood disease. As a young child growing up, I suffered constantly with having low blood counts, iron deficiency, fatigues and loss of weight just to name a few. I also had a lot of hospital admissions which you…