Her Sickled Journey – a Column by Tito Oye

I have been self-isolating since March 19, and already I have been through a series of emotions during this lockdown period. Initially, most of these emotions were negative. A week into my self-isolation, the realization that I can’t leave my house hit me. Even though…

As a sickle cell advocate, many people have come to me for advice, especially in this pandemic period. Those with sickle cell want all sorts of advice during the coronavirus outbreak but accurate information is not as readily available as we are used to. Nobody likes…

The spread of the coronavirus means that those of us with sickle cell disease need to be extremely cautious. We have all been advised to practice social distancing. I have been in my house for a week now and have become bored due to my lack of routine. So…

Swimming is an essential life skill. Everyone should learn to swim, as it could be the difference between life and death. My parents believed similarly and signed me up for swimming lessons as a child. However, I don’t remember the lessons so much as the pain and frequent hospital admissions.

I rarely leave London, but this weekend I went on a mini “staycation” to Kent with 24 of my friends for a birthday celebration. Packing We rented a mansion on Airbnb with enough space for the 25 of us, though I was not sure what the environment in the house…

Many things can trigger a sickle cell crisis. The first triggers I experienced ranged from temperature changes in my environment to dehydration. But as I got older, I began to experience a new trigger that took me by surprise: stress. The Oxford dictionary defines stress as a “state…

Fatigue is a common symptom associated with sickle cell disease. Due to the smaller size of our red blood cells, we cannot carry as much oxygen as those with healthier red blood cells. This leads to a lack of oxygen in our bodies and, ultimately, fatigue. Fatigue describes the feeling…

Living with sickle cell disease is not easy. It affects every area of one’s life. An important part of managing the challenges that come with the disease is having a solid support system. I do not have any close friends with sickle cell, but I…

My hospital also is a university full of medical students. Trainees follow their supervisors from patient to patient to get a sense of how their work applies to real-life situations. Nine times out of 10, I love interacting with students. I love to discover the person behind the uniform, and…

For most of my life, I hid the fact that I have sickle cell disease. People only knew about my health if they needed to know. In other words, the only ones I could talk to about it were my immediate family members and doctors. This was not ideal growing…