Congrats to My Pops

On Saturday, my family and I attended an awards ceremony where my Dad was winning an award. He won a humanitarian award for his tireless volunteer efforts. This particular award was concerned with sickle cell anemia. My father is instrumental in organizing walks and fundraising efforts for sickle cell. He also helps raise funds for a camp called Camp Jumoke. This camp is for children with sickle cell. It’s pretty great as these kids have to worry so much about their health whenever they are away from home. It’s great that they can go to a camp with trained medical professionals there to help when and if the need arises.

I do not have sickle cell, but I do have sickle cell trait. I got the trait from my mother. This essentially means that I have inherited one of the genes of the disease, but do not have full blown sickle cell anemia. My parents are west african, and it is said that 25% of west africans have the sickle cell trait.

Things like this scare me/make me nervous. Against all odds, perhaps, I DO want to have children of my own someday. But I’m also afraid of what I might pass on to my child. Will they suffer from the same illness(es) that I suffer from? What if my partner/father of my child has sickle cell trait as well? It’s all very scary, but I still remain full of faith and hope that things will turn out as they are supposed to turn out in the end.

Below is a picture from the awards ceremony. This picture consists of my sister, my brother’s girlfriend, my brother, my mother, my father, and moi!