Yep. This is coming late too. Please, please, please, feel free to roll your eyes ☺ 

I didn’t plan on following World Sickle Cell Day this year, but truth be told, there was something different and special about this year’s edition – if I may call it that. 

Nah! It wasn’t the theme. I mean the theme was pretty important and needed in the present day and age – Shine The Light On Sickle Cell; it was something different. 

Some HBSS peeps gathered together. Let me change that. Some HBSS entrepreneurs; life rocking entrepreneurs… Butt (forgive my French) kicking professionals gathered together for a Webinar where they discussed – not the harrowing experience of Sickle Cell; not the long sad tales of rejection and dejection; but tales of victory in business, in their professions, and in life. I was so thrilled!

That’s it. Finally! A much-needed narrative that has been a long time coming! See, Sickle Cell is what it is, and going on and on and on about all that heavy stuff just allows it to shabkara people here and there. Abegi who send am?

I’d say when it comes to Sickle Cell, it is time to celebrate the wins and defocus the losses. It is time to focus on the shinning sun and not the heavy rain. It is time to rise up and stand tall. It is time to look in the faces of all those who said you couldn’t make it and flaunt your victories and triumphs. 

I look forward to all people living with HBSS taking their rightful place and being all they are destined to be. Not limited by the interesting shape of their red blood cells and their insistence on causing traffic jam in the blood vessel highways. 

That said, we must also not deny the fact that Sickle Cell is what it is and we must try as much as possible to reduce its occurrence in the future generation by making informed choices. If you are AS, then please marry someone who is AA or opt for birth options that guarantee zero% occurrence of a child with Sickle Cell. The same goes for people who are SS or SC. Please read my previous post, Laughing in the face of sickle-cell for more details. 

Now that there are more individuals living with Sickle Cell and thriving against all odds, information about it must be dialed up from the White House to The Hague, and all around the world. Doctors and scientists must not give up on research that will guarantee a better life and future for those living with Sickle Cell. 

And for you living with Sickle Cell… hey… smile a little even if you have spent the whole day in tears because the burning torrent of pain keeps surging through your body. Smile, because you made it through the night. Smile because you have come this far even though many wrote you off. Smile because you are able to read these little words of mine. Smile because you made it through primary school to secondary school. Smile because you actually graduated. Smile because you landed that job or started that business. Smile because I believe your tomorrow will be much brighter and better than your today. 

Please, don’t give up the fight. Please don’t stop believing that everything will be alright. Please imagine a brighter future and look forward to living it. And if for some reason you are not able or willing to dream; I pray a new spark is ignited in you; a positive flame that will keep burning and never to go out. 

God is your God. He has brought you this far, and will definitely take you to the Promised Land in Jesus name, amen.

So, don’t give up. Remember you are Sexy and Sleek… do I get a halleluiah and amen?