Category: My Sickle Cell Story
Dr. Carolyn Rowley’s Take: Healthy Living to Manage Sickle Cell
I know it may be hard for people to believe, but I’ve never taken pain medication ever. In dealing with sickle cell, lifestyle matters and through it I believe that I can heal myself. Living with sickle cell disease (hb SS), I do fairly well healthwise. I’ve been vegan since third grade and wrote a…
Victor Fadhili’s Take: Managing Sickle Cell Disease – A Young Adult Living in Kenya
My parents traveled a far distance to get a diagnosis for my swollen hands and the pain in my joints. We didn’t have access to a test to determine my genetic status. When they found out I had sickle cell disease at 6 months, they were devastated because they were told no cure was available…
Wanda William’s Take: My Experience with Taking Hydroxyurea for Sickle Cell Disease
Growing up I didn’t know I had sickle cell disease until I was 19, after the birth of my son. I grew up in a time where nobody knew what specifically was wrong. My grandmother treated my excruciating pain episodes with applying heat, massaging me, and having me rest. That was it! I got no…
Advocating for My Sickle Cell Abroad
When I was 30 years old, I traveled to Ghana to teach high school girls biology and activism skills for their burgeoning social justice movement. I happened to be in the latter part of my first trimester of pregnancy with my daughter. Everything was going well, and I had a provider who was monitoring my…
My Miracle Pregnancy
Growing up I was told that I would never be able to have kids due to living with sickle cell disease. When I found out that I had an unexpected miscarriage, in my late twenties, I was shocked. I didn’t believe it was possible, so when the doctor told me I had already been 4…