What is sickle cell anemia?
Well the simple answer is, Sickle cell Anemia is an inherited blood disorder where there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Red blood cells are usually round and flexible, easy to move throughout the body. However with sickle cell anemia the red blood cells are shaped like “sickles” or crescent moons. This can cause blockage of blood flow and oxygen to various parts of the body, causing various complications. One main one being a “crisis” . A sickle cell crisis is when the sickled cells get stuck in the blood vessel causing severe pain. Depending on the intensity this can last for days into weeks, and often lead to hospitalizations. For more information on Sickle cell, check here.
My journey
People with sickle cell disease are just born resilient, you have to be if you have a disease like this, because sickle cell anemia is unpredictable. By unpredictable I mean you can literally be fine one minute and the next minute be battling a sickle cell crisis, and that is the scary part of the disease. Growing up I would like to say I had a pretty normal childhood. I went to school, did extracurricular activities, and had a very supportive family at home. However there is a part of my life that a lot of my friends growing up (and still to this day) don’t know much about, and that is my journey with sickle cell anemia.
I really wish I could give you the whole run down of how my childhood was with sickle cell anemia, but the truth is a lot of it I can’t remember. Why I can’t remember, it can be the fact that I was just young, it can be from the medicine I was on at the time, or it can be my brain blocking out the childhood traumas of it all. One thing I do remember is that my parents thought hope was lost when it came to my case. The first time I ever saw my father cry, I was 9 years old. It was when I was finally able to come home after an extended hospital stay that they thought was going to end in death. However I give all the glory to God that that wasn’t the case.
The Early Years
By the time I was a teenager my health had improved significantly. Don’t get me wrong I still had many setbacks and struggles along the way. One of those main struggles were academics. At this point in my life I accepted what I had, and I knew what I had to do to stay healthy. Sickle cell is a disease that is unpredictable and that is something I have to deal with daily, because of that I had times when I would miss a significant amount of days from school.
By the time I was a senior, my guidance counselors didn’t think “I was college material” and suggested going straight to the workforce as opposed to college. This is why you never wait for people’s approval before pursuing something. You need to use the conviction God has given you and go for it. Here I am years later with a B.A. in Special Education and English, and a Masters in Social Work. Was it easy? Hell no! I had to work harder than my peers and find ways to make up for areas I lacked due to my health.
Dealing with Depression
Right after College I went into a master’s program, unknowingly to me the program was very demanding and I was also working as a teacher at the time. This caused me to be in and out of the hospital. One thing about Sickle Cell, it breeds on stress. It doesn’t matter if it’s physical stress or mental stress, the two don’t mix. During my times in the hospital my job suffered and I fell behind in my Master’s program. Trying to balance it all became very difficult for me. This went on for 2 years before I decided to leave my job and take time off from school.
Did mention I was planning a wedding too?! This is when depression started to creep in. I talk about sickle cell and depression over on my instagram, be sure to follow me over there. I went from working full time, and going to school with the anticipation of graduating that year, to literally doing nothing. The depression was so bad that I lost 25lbs, I struggled with eating, sleeping, and had zero interest in carrying out time sensitive wedding plans (which I was extremely excited about prior to). This is where being resilient comes in, despite the pains and the hospital visits and the depression I had to dig deep and find the woman that I knew was stronger than all of this, it was hard, but I found her. A year later I would return to finish my final year of my Master’s program, married and pregnant.
motherhood
Let me say this, because of my sickle cell, growing up I never expected to conceive as quickly or as easily as I did. To be honest, I didn’t think that I would have children naturally. Pregnancy to my surprise and the surprise of my Doctors was one of the healthiest times for me. Remember, 2 years prior I was in and out of the hospital and now I was pregnant. According to medicine I was considered high risk because I had a pre existing condition. But with close monitoring and blood transfusions, I was able to carry my baby girl for nine whole months and I was able to have a safe and healthy vaginal delivery. Want to meet my daughter? Check out the Nook!
Motherhood isn’t always easy and it’s not easy when you are dealing with your own health situations. One thing that has really helped me with my sickle cell and being a mother is trying as much as possible to find balance. I preach about balance all the time because it is absolutely important. Balance between being a mother balance between dealing with my health, balance between being a wife, and balance between my career.
One thing I can say is that I’m truly grateful and blessed that I have a very supportive husband and a supportive family who is willing to stop what they’re doing to help take care of me or my daughter when need be. I think it’s very important, that a mother with sickle cell should have a group of people to help you when you are in need. Our health condition can sometimes be unpredictable, and if we have to take a child to school or cook dinner for them, or all the other things that being a mother consists of and then a sickle cell crisis happens, we’re unable to do any of that. That’s why it is important to have a support system.
The Future
Now no one knows what the future holds, but God. Maybe somewhere down the line there will be a noninvasive cure for the disease. But one thing I do know is that I will continue to be strong for not only myself but for my daughter, my husband and the rest of my family who love me dearly. I know God has a purpose for me, that’s why he has kept me til now. My goal is to continue to walk in that purpose, and I am just getting started.
To all the other Warriors who may be reading this, just remember you are stronger than you think.
*This post is dedicated to all the fallen warriors & my dear friend Samantha Brooks (1983-2017) your smile and zeel for life will never be forgotten.
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2 Comments
[…] really can’t believe that Naomi is 3 already. If you read my blog post on The Journey of a Sickle Cell Warrior you that I didn’t think that I was even going to have a child but God had other plans, and here we […]
This is inspiring, thanks for putting it out.