WALK FOR LIFE

Growing  up, I had a very close friend who had the sickle cell anaemia. She was such a free spirited one and would laugh at all your jokes, worry about your well being, show you love and she was so kind at heart. I remember when my brother and I may have left the compound which my mum wasn’t so cool with, my friend would come to my mum and beg on our behalf. She would say, “mummy, I know you didn’t want them to leave the house but they did. Please, don’t beat them because they are my friends but you can punish them”. I love and miss that girl. I should try and contact her again.

A lot of people have passed away as a result of the sickle cell anaemia. As a matter of ignorance, a lot of myths have been associated with the crisis. While a lot have said that one who has sickle cell anaemia is possessed with the evil spirit to cause pain to the family where he or she is born. This is because, the carriers are constantly falling ill especially when they are not being properly taken care of. The truth however, is that, sickle cell anaemia is an inherited blood disorder. It is caused by a genetic abnormality in the gene for haemoglobin, which results in the production of sickle haemoglobin. Persons with sickle cell anaemia develop severe pain in the body (chest, back, arms, legs and abdomen), illness with chest pain, difficulty breathing and fever. (read more on the WebMD).

Kim Bukola Sogbuyi, the founder of progeny foundation,is living with the sickle cell anaemia. She started the foundation shortly after she returned to Nigeria in 2011 and realised that a lot of people were dying of the disease and some had no idea that they had the disease. Her aim of setting up the foundation is to create awareness and raise funds to make the right facilities available. According to her, sickle cell can be managed as long as you build the right support system (culled from an interview by MI Abaga).

As part of the activities of her foundation to see that ahe achieves her aim, a walk was initiated last year and the second phase will be done this year on the 8th of December (check the poster on the blog for details). It is tagged the WALK FOR LIFE. It has been endorsed by a number of celebrities. This year would feature Burna boy, Black magic, Vina,and Tosyn Bucknor. For more information, visit progeny foundation.

Hope to see y’all on Saturday. Let us WALK FOR LIFE!