Reading Encomium magazine yesterday, I saw an interview granted by one of Nigeria's most talented actresses Eucharia Anunobi. In it she announced that her only son, Joshua Ekwu, has sickle cell anaemia.
Hear her...
Q: Lets share your challenges as a single lady
Eucharia "My situation is a bit complex. I don't know how to say this. My case is deep. It is not just about being a single mother. I don't know if this is the right place to say this but mine is more trying. Mine is heavy. You know why? Because my son has sickle cell anaemia. Unfortunately that is heavy. Sometimes the tears...please, I don't want to talk about it. I has not been easy. I am sure you understand. It is not easy when your child is SS. I have God on my side. He has been my helper and my strength"
Unfortunately she didn't say anymore about it. I would have loved to know how she found out, what she's doing to keep him healthy, the real challenges of taking care of an SS child etc...but the journalist asking the questions didn't ask any of this, he kinda seemed more interested in her broken marriage and run away husband.
This is one of the reasons I want to do a talk show someday. Have people share their experiences, so some of us can learn from it.
If this doesn't teach us anything at all, it should teach some of us who haven't had kids yet to check our blood type/group? before getting married or having a baby by a man.
What more can you say about this? Any expert in the house? Please tell us more about this blood disease.
Unfortunately she didn't say anymore about it. I would have loved to know how she found out, what she's doing to keep him healthy, the real challenges of taking care of an SS child etc...but the journalist asking the questions didn't ask any of this, he kinda seemed more interested in her broken marriage and run away husband.
This is one of the reasons I want to do a talk show someday. Have people share their experiences, so some of us can learn from it.
If this doesn't teach us anything at all, it should teach some of us who haven't had kids yet to check our blood type/group? before getting married or having a baby by a man.
What more can you say about this? Any expert in the house? Please tell us more about this blood disease.
World's dirtiest cities: Port Harcourt Makes the top list
Meanwhile our own PH city has been named one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Most of the dirtiest cities are in Africa. Surprised? See the full list below.
No. 1: Baku, Azerbaijan Health and Sanitation Index Score: 27.6No. 2: Dhaka, Bangladesh Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 29.6
No. 3: Antananarivo, Madagascar Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 30.1No.
4: Port au Prince, Haiti Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 34No.
5: Mexico City, Mexico Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 37.7No.
6: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 37.9No.
7: Mumbai, India Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 38.2No.
8: Baghdad, Iraq Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 39No.
9: Almaty, Kazakhstan Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 39.1No.
10: Brazzaville, Congo Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 39.1No.
11: Ndjamena, Chad Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 39.7No.
12: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 40.4No.
13: Bangui, Central African Republic Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 42.1
No. 14: Moscow, Russia Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 43.4No.
15: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 43.4No.
16: Bamako, Mali Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 43.7No.
17: Pointe Noire, Congo Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 43.8No.
18: Lome, Togo Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 44.1No.
19: Conakry, Guinea Republic Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 44.2
No. 20: Nouakchott, Mauritania Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 44.7
No. 21: Niamey, Niger Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 45
No. 22: Luanda, Angola Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 45.2
No. 23: Maputo, Mozambique Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 46.3
No. 24: New Delhi, India Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 46.6No.
25: Port Harcourt, Nigeria Mercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 46.8*
Chris Brown and Rihanna holidaying in Jamaica!
I totally approve...lucky dude!
Chinese Fend Shui Horoscope
It seems most horoscopes are for single or working people. Still, some of these may come true.This is a Chinese Feng Shui Horoscope.Take a moment to take this test! If you are honest this tells the truth, it's pretty accurate.
Write your answers on paper. Find out your horoscope at the bottom.
1. Which color is your favorite color: Red, Black, Blue, Green or Yellow?
2. Your first initial?
3. Your month of birth?
4. Which color do you like more, Black or White?
5. The name of a person that is the same sex as you?
6. Your favorite number?
7. Do you like California or Florida more?
8. Do you like a lake or the ocean more?
9. Write down a wish (a realistic one)
When you are done, scroll down. Don't cheat!
Answers:
1. If you choose:Red- You are alert and your life is full of love.Black- You are conservative and aggressive.Green- Your soul is relaxed and you are laid back.Blue- You are spontaneous and love affection.Yellow- You are a very happy person and give good advice to those who are down.
2. If your initials are: A-K You have a lot of love and friendships in your life.L-R You try to live your life to the max and your love life is soon to bloom. S-Z You like to help others and your future looks ver! y br ight.
3. If you were born in: Jan-Mar: The year will go very well for you and you will discover that you fall in love with someone totally unexpected.Apr-Jun: You will have a strong love relationship that will last forever.Jul-Sep: You will have a great year and will experience a major life-changing experience for the good.Oct-Dec: Your life will b e great, you will find your soul mate.
4. If you choose:Black: Your life is about to get better. You are more than ready for the change.White: You have a friend who completely confides in you and would do anything for you, but you may not realize it.
5. This person should be your best friend.
6. This is how many close friends you will have in your life time.
7. If you choose:California : You like adventure.Florida : You are a laid back person.
8. If you choose:Lake : You are loyal to your friends and your lover. You are very reserved.
Ocean: You are spontaneous and like to please people.
9. This wish will come true if you send this to 1 person in one hour.Send it to ten people and it will come true before your next birthday.
When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a bitch.
When I stand up for those I love, they call me a bitch.
When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts or do things my own way, they call me a bitch.
Being a bitch means I won't compromise what's in my heart. It means I live my life MY way. It means I won't allow anyone to step on me.
When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a bitch. The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being everyone's maid, or when I act a little selfish.
It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I "should" be.
I am outspoken, opinionated and determined. I want what I want and there is nothing wrong with that! So try to stomp on me, try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won't succeed.
And if that makes me a bitch , so be it. I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.
B - Babe
I - In
T - Total
C - Control of
H - Herself
B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Hell of a Woman
B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle anything
Not my own words...just thought to share.
See you soon!
22 comments:
As a victim of the Sickle Cell Anemia scorge, i may not be an expert but if i have only had 3 major crises in my entire life then there is great hope for us all.
I think my parents positive attitude helped me a lot. They did not tell anybody even though they found out when i was about 2( i myself later got to know when i had my first crises after secondary school and was given my hospital file to hold by a careless hospital staff. Alas! my sickness was diagnosed as a sickler in crises............... story for another day)
MY parents never related to me as a sickler, but they made sure i took my drugs regularly.
When a reseach was being done for the cure by the Nigerian Pharmaceautical Institute, i was enrolled and was used as a case study with other ss patients.
They came out with a drug named NIPRISAN now called NICOSAN and i have been on it ever since.
It wont change your blood type oooooooooo but crisis would be reduced to the bearest minimum or for someone like me who takes it with a daily dose of penicillin, there will almost be none.
Not forgettng checking your PCV and if low having a regular dose of Ugwu leaves juice since we cant take the regular blood tonic.
Its very important that we wipe this scorge and that can only be done by checking your blood type. Not when the church asks you to do so, but before you start considering that relationship.
I have a 2 year old son and he is the cutest thing ever and i am planning to give him a little sibling soon.
And i am looking forward to my 120th birthday and if we have started living much longer than that by then............ well will see then.
1st comment ever.
I had to cuz being someone that has a number of ss in my extended family, i soooo disagree with checking the blood group before getting married and I think its such an ignorant comment not on side but made my many others including my partner. yes, death rate is high but for Gods sake, a perfectly healthy AA child can be hit by a car or wateva and fall an die. I have seen quite a number of ss's make it past 21 and even 30/40/50 and wait for it.....have their own kids without dying on the birth bed(women) while some AA healthy women dont...Get my point. Its all in Gods hands
What I will suggest parents do is:
1. entrust ur child to Gods hands cuz he alone determines how long we live not any medicine/doctor.
2. If you can, fly ur kids abroad where they'll get better healthcare, better diet et al.
3. If funds are not available, local remedies like blended ugwu(spinach) to drink provides fibre.
Personal advice to anyone in love or contemplating marrying an ss is to go for it if Gods so wills.
Hope this helps
x
wow, her son is sickle cell...dats so sad... my best friend in uni was SS and i know the emotional trauma on her and her family....how her dad and her mum have to rush down everytime they got a phone call. i remember how my heart used to skip everytime she woke me up in the middle of the night with joint aches, i remember how she wrote practically almost every exam in the hospital and still manage to make A's, graduate with the best result in her faculty. Its not going to be easy for Eucharia but with God everything is possible.
I wish her the very best.
I cant believe RiRi and Chris Brown!!! Oh shucks!!!
my best whishes to UK
It is amazing that Eucharia Anunobi
and her hubby never bothered about checking their blood group and genotype b4 saying I do. It boils down to societal pressure particularly as she was not any younger when they got married. She settled for the very next guy that proposed.
I had a friend while in secondary school who was SS. If she has one of her crisis while in school the entire class will join in and cry with her. We all could feel her pain but there was nothing we could do. We all vowed never to allow any of our kids pass through such torture
It was when I went appendix for operation that i found out my genotype which is AS. That has prevented me from getting married 3 times bcos my partners turned out to be AS. Right now what i do is b4 i date any guy i ask his genotype bcos the pain of breaking away is never easy particularly when there is so much chemistry. the 2nd guy even wanted us to trust God and take a plunge and i said is better not to tempt God.
I pray God will help Eucharia Anunobi deal with this and as an enlightened woman she should look for expert advise.
My friend (3 of her sibblings were SS and the elder brother later died at the age of 30) survived and even had a son.
I don't know how she did it but she did say the last time we met she was still experincing the crisis once in a while.
knowledge is power
LOL wow! godisalive.....u are a very unrealistic person.
not sayin that is necessarily a bad thing but i would defintitely not go 2 someone of ur calibre for advice.
being in the health sector, comments/beliefs like that irks me becos STATISTICALLY speaking, that is the major reason why there is such an increasing rate in diseases especially infectious ones.
example, pple dont believe they can get HIV and then dont get tested with their partner because of their beliefs. some believe God wouldnt want it 2 happen 2 them as if 2 say those that have AIDS is due to God's doing. mind u PROMISCUITY is NOT the only thing that leads to the contraction of HIV.
others belief they are invincible..which by the way is very evident in the human nature. it is very typical for human beings to think they are IMMUNED to something until it hits very close 2 home.
there are so many other examples but i chose these few.
linda i know nothing abt SS but it runs in my family as my dad's youngest sister died from it at 20 and i still miss her till this day. it is something that is avoidable...so y even give it a chance?
the very first comment by the anon folk is what i consider rewarding. it gives hope for those who have the condition/disease.
i was so pleased 2 read that.
LOL wow! godisalive.....u are a very unrealistic person.
not sayin that is necessarily a bad thing but i would defintitely not go 2 someone of ur calibre for advice.
being in the health sector, comments/beliefs like that irks me becos STATISTICALLY speaking, that is the major reason why there is such an increasing rate in diseases especially infectious ones.
example, pple dont believe they can get HIV and then dont get tested with their partner because of their beliefs. some believe God wouldnt want it 2 happen 2 them as if 2 say those that have AIDS is due to God's doing. mind u PROMISCUITY is NOT the only thing that leads to the contraction of HIV.
others belief they are invincible..which by the way is very evident in the human nature. it is very typical for human beings to think they are IMMUNED to something until it hits very close 2 home.
there are so many other examples but i chose these few.
linda i know nothing abt SS but it runs in my family as my dad's youngest sister died from it at 20 and i still miss her till this day. it is something that is avoidable...so y even give it a chance?
the very first comment by the anon folk is what i consider rewarding. it gives hope for those who have the condition/disease.
i was so pleased 2 read that.
I totally love Eucharia! She's awesome on the job and I really wish her well. I didn't even know her marriage was over. I'll definitely be praying for her (let's all do that).
Honestly I'm a bit weary about an AS hooking up with another AS. I ask the question once the mutual attraction is clearly there. In the past I called off a relationship partially (note "PARTIALLY")for that reason.It was alarming how my ex went on and on about the 'wonderful'health facilities we could take the kid to. I didn't want to have to go there at all!!! True, God determine each man's life span but, for me, it's more about how the child lives that life span not how or when the child dies. As an AS, the best I can do to prevent the SS stuff is to avoid grooming a high-risk relationship. Might not favor all but it works for me.
On the funny side....
my best friend's mum always replays her laundry list of a perfect suitor for my friend. After one of our AS/SS discussions my friends adds,"thank God I'm AA or else we'll be hearing of the ideal Muslim, AA suitor from my mum"
The good lord will give her the strength to carry her cross.
@godisalive,
are u saying that it is not necessary to check your partners genotype before marriage?
u think its an ignorant point of view??
I STRONGLY DISAGREE.....
I beleive in God and i know that our destinies ultimately lie in his hands...but u know what? The same God gave us the power to make choices....and live or face the consequences of those choices..
Why would 2 pple make a conscious decision or consciously decide to ignore the possibility of bringing an SS child into the world in this time and age??
if u do not know or it probably does not occur to you, that is a different matter; but deliberately ignoring the genotype issue in your choice of life partner is selfish in my opinion..
my genotype is SC...i used to have crises when i was growing up..even though i'm not SS...
trust me! its not what you want your child to go through...
and of cus you can marry someone's who's SS...just make sure you're AA...
at least for your child's sake!
Sickle cell victims do actually suffer a lot, i only found out cos my best mate at uni suffers from it and she's always in A+E for serious pain.
Rhianna and Chris Brown, totally cool together.xx
I feel really sad for eucharia, had a friend with it, its not a funny thing.
meanwhile, i want to express my disgust with chris n rihanna's relationship, she looks like an agbaya with him, he luks like he is too small for her.
he looks like a perfect match for me though.
thank God, Im SS but have not gotten any serious crises of which I can remember, except maybe constipations, like once a year. im in the uk, i work about 30hours a week and study..living a normal life. i use jobelyn, i believe it works.
the only problem is just at times my skin looking pale or my eyes turning green...sucks.
God's wish for me shall come to past.
God will see her through,its really a hard situation...God is faithful...
Ok at all who replied. Didnt mean 2 be controversial as everyone has a view. I personally will not dwell on blood types. My partner is AA and im AS so i thank God. My Point is that there r still ss's out there. R we saying they dont deserve happiness as in kids??? Now that shud b considered cuz i would hate to think that.
@paris....lol about d advise comment...hun issue aside, i'll give u very solid advise about controversial topics as such are very much based on personal views...
Miss. Ikeji,
One topic per post.
When you put different topics under the same post you are turning it into garbage.
First post: Eucharia Anunobi's child with sickle cell anaemia is on health and medicare.
Second post: The topic on Chris Brown and Rihanna is about romance.
For clarity, post the different topics separately.
Blogging 101 is available online.
Cheers and God bless.
Nicosan was approved for sale by NAFDAC in July of 2006. Is this drug widely used and known now in Nigeria?
It is encouraging to hear that someone has had some real success with the treatment. I have only read about it but never known anyone who actually takes Nicosan.
There's a lot of hope in in other countries that this drug will be successful in Nigeria. If it does become widely used it has a chance of it going through the approval processes in the E.U. and U.S.. The only real treatment option outside of the African continent for sickle cell is hydroxyurea which really isn't much of an option at all. There are no traditional medicines being used for treatment in the West.
If anyone can tell me how Nicosan is being accepted in Nigeria I'd be anxious to hear any opinions or comments!
Thanks :)
I was born with Sickle Cell Anemia and was diagnosed with SS as an infant. My parents didn't get tested before hand and they weren't prepared for what was ahead. I have spent many minutes, hours, days even weeks in the hospital since I was a child.I even have baby pictures of me with IV's and tubes. I have had many surgeries and breathing problems because of my sickle cell and have even been diagnosed with " Right Acute airspace disease"in my lung. But the sun still shines, life still goes on for me and I maintain the happiness in my life because everyday is a blessing. I am an aspiring actress and model and I love to sing. I just celebrated my 21st birthday about 2 weeks ago and I was fortunate enough to visit the Sickle Cell Center in Atlanta GA.
My life with Sickle Cell has been nothing short of a blessing as I recount the many times doctors have told me I almost died although, I don't look at myself as a victim... as I am still alive, still inspiring and still aspiring.. I am a survivor.
I believe that it is important to get tested beforehand when planning a child, but only to be able to maintain genetic counseling. It is a frightening thing to think that if I was having a child, he/she would go through the very same things I am going through at the possible same time.
Sickle Cell takes a lot out of you and it enables you to participate in a lot of things that many people your age can do.. it's very tough.
Here in the US having sickle cell means lots of drugs... I take so many medicines regularly that it's not even funny and I don't believe hydrea (hydroxyurea) that I'm taking helps very much at all since i'm in pain a lot everytime the weather changes.
I think it's ignorant to suggest that someone break up with me and plan to not have children with me because of my SS disease. It's not my fault that I have SS and I do someday dream of having a family. I am recently engaged and I would be heart broken if he decided not to be with me because of my SS. Having a child is a beautiful thing and with proper help from God and genetic counseling and a knowledgeable medical team I believe that a new, wonderful life could be brought into this world... Ever think that maybe a person with SS could be the one to offer a safe, natural cure to it?
Julia as far as I know there is a safe natural treatment that's already been developed and has FDA orphan drug status awaiting the Investigational Drug Application in the U.S.
In clinical trials it ended crises for 12 months in 80% of patients and reduced crises by 50% in the remainder.
You can read information about this drug at
http://sicklecellsurvivor.org/node/16#comment
Hydroxurea is only effective in approximately 20% of patients with sickle cell anemia and in those patients taking it crises reduction is only about 40%.
It is good thing to know that Nigerian Pharmaceautical Institute actually carried out such experimental research. i also heard that there is pre-natal diagnose, it means that the blood type of a babe in the 2nd trimester can be confirmed and terminated if their is a risk of congenital defect of sickle cell.
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