All I remember is that I was being helped off the floor by some of my classmates. Apparently, I had fainted during the Assembly. It was sometime in 1979/1980 and I was in Form Two. I was taken to the Sick Bay but they could not tell why I had fainted. My Dad later took me to the Military Hospital on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, and they ran some tests on me. We were told I had Sickle Cell Anaemia! My Dad was shocked; I was 12 years old and he was just... being told I was a sickler. I remember vividly how I cried all the way home from the hospital. I am a sickler! I am going to die! I won't live to be 25 years old! I was inconsolable. With a lump in his throat, my Dad assured me that whatever he and my Mum had to do they would ensure that I did not die.
Some more tests were done later and they all confirmed that my genotype was SS.
There is nothing as agonising as the pains of a sickle cell crisis. The pain arises when the red blood cells lose oxygen and take on a sickle-like shape which then clog up the flow of blood. The pains are excruciating.
I am now 47 years and five months old. My God delivered me from Sickle Cell Anaemia several years ago. I am not on any sort of medication despite my hectic work life. I went for a full medical check-up sometime ago and the doctor said that I was in "perfect health" and that he would not even have believed that my genotype was SS had he not known my medical history.
Today, I am grateful for my healing and my heath. My God, JEHOVAH RAPHA, my Healer, has done me well. The stripes Jesus bore on His Body availed for me. He made me WHOLE!
Praise God! Halleluyah!!
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