EPISODE  1

It was a wet Sunday evening when the family of the Adetutu held the lifeless body of their 8 year old child who died of the hemoglobin disorder- Sickle Cell Disease. The air stood still as the eerie and forlorn feeling choked all present. Similarly, this is the story of many families with children  or individuals who are carriers of the dreaded Sickle Cell disease. 

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a type of blood or hemoglobin disorder where the red blood cells lack a particular hemoglobin-a protein for red blood cells. It is genetic based and due to inheritance of mutated genetics from parents. In the case of sickle cell, the red blood cells are literally sickled or deformed which causes a block in blood flow that prevents oxygen from getting to the vital tissues and parts of the body. 

According to records by the World Health Organization(WHO) in 2024, approximately 5% of the world's population carry trait genes of hemoglobin disorder, mainly sickle cell disease, and over 300,000 babies who are carriers of hemoglobin disorders are born annually. Sickle cell is a disease under the hemoglobin disorder which is predominantly  in India and Africa. According to the American Society of Hematology in 2023, the life expectancy of patients living with sickle cell is an placed on an average of 52.6 years and it was noted that the life expectancy for sickle cell patients was shortened by two decades, meaning that a sickle patient has 20 years less than the average non-sickle cell patient. This huge difference shows the struggles and difficulties faced by patients living with Sickle Cell Disease…

To be Continued ❣️