A 42-year-old sickle cell patient, Alhaji Yakubu Yunus Yakub has said that sickle cell disorder is not a death sentence, maintaining that it can be taken care of if managed properly.
Alhaji Yakub, who is also a lecturer at the Kaduna State University (KASU), Department Of Geography disclosed that he was diagnosed with sickle cell since the age of 4.
He explained that, “I am a sickle cell carrier, I was born in 1980, in 1984, I was diagnosed with sickle cell disease and since then I have lived with it and I can confidently say that I am living successfully because I have been able to manage it to a large extent.
“I married since 2014 and I have four kids, none of them is a carrier because myself and my wife did the genotype test before we got married, I am SS and she is AA , all our children are AS”.
Yakub also urged sickle cell warriors to take their routine drugs in order not to trigger the crisis.
According to him, sickle cell disease is not a death sentence, it can be managed to a large extent.
“I have also been active in advocacy, talking to other sickle cell carriers, telling them that it is not a death sentence, they can actually live a fulfilled life”.
He therefore advised sickle cell patients not to be addicted to strong analgesic drugs, saying that they should endeavor to take their routine drugs regularly.
Yakubu also encouraged Nigerians, especially the young people, to carry out genotype tests before getting married.
He therefore appealed to the government to put in place hospitals where sickle cell patients could get free medical treatment including free drugs, saying that the treatment is expensive.
