Some 23 years ago, when I brought my fiancee to our family home, to introduce her to my parents, I said, “This is Bimbo, the woman I am going to marry.” I said it with such finality, it didn’t matter what they, or anyone else thought of her. She was my choice, and nothing could have stopped me from marrying her. I said that much, even as we went for blood test and other medicals, preparatory to our wedding. I was in LOVE. I am still in LOVE with my babe.
With the benefits of hindsight, I am eternally GRATEFUL TO GOD for making our genotypes compatible, because, I could have foolishly plunged our young family into needless crises if we both had been ‘AS,’ and had insisted on marrying each other.
This is a very SENSITIVE issue, but, we MUST talk about it in order to avoid/stop preventable sufferings and agonizing deaths of sickle cell carriers.
Last Saturday, at the University of Ibadan, Mr. Yomi Oyelami, the Communications Officer for SAMI, brought us much ENLIGHTENMENT on the history (causes, treatment and prevention) of sickle cell. I am ABSOLUTELY PERSUADED that every CHURCH, MOSQUE, and ORGANIZATIONS that LOVE their people, should listen to what Yomi has to say on sickle cell. Call him after reading his story.
Here’s a snippet…
MY LIFE IN 3D: SICKLE CELL PERSPECTIVES
Exactly 2 weeks before my 41st birthday, I was lying on the hospital bed for my first blood transfusion, all glory to God. But, that’s rare, because sickle cell disease, which I have lived with all my life, is a condition that causes red blood cells to misshapen and die early and may require many blood transfusions in a lifetime.
I must point out that Sickle Cell is strictly passed down from parents to children. It is inherited, it is not contagious, it is not mystical. While it is possible for Sickle Cell to be in humans of all races, it is predominant among blacks and other peoples because of the Malaria-Sickle Cell matrix, which caused nature to lead an evolutionary advantage to preserve peoples around the malaria-endemic regions. This is why we have people who have the usual blood genotype, people who carry the sickle cell trait, and those who live with the sickle cell condition.
Two hours of discussion last Saturday (@ the SHARED EXPERIENCE SERIES of RIGHT MINDS FOUNDATION) packed into 2 paragraphs, are not enough to explain what Sickle Cell is, nor to tell about the numerous crises and complications that may come with Sickle Cell. This is why I am all out for ENLIGHTENMENT, EDUCATION, and AWARENESS .
I do not believe that we should wait for 2-3 months before a wedding celebration to tell intending couples that they can’t marry because they are not genotype-compatible. Why not start from childhood, at adolescence, in schools, in churches, in mosques, everywhere, so that they grow into the consciousness, since blood groups and genotypes rarely change over a lifetime.
You can reach me via phone/WhatsApp 08060980374, social media: @yomioyelami, and email: yomioyelami@gmail.com” – YO
Call him now, to speak to your congregations in churches, mosques and schools; and PAY HIM GOOD HONORARIUM too.
Remember Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for LACK OF KNOWLEDGE. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you………”
DA