Her Sickled Journey – a Column by Tito Oye

I started to shelter at home due to the pandemic in mid-March 2020, and I’m still doing so a year later. I never thought I would be in this position. At the beginning of the nationwide lockdown here in the U.K., most people didn’t know what to…

While sickle cell disease is considered a rare disease, and is recognized each year at the end of February during Rare Disease Day, I personally don’t think of it that way. The reason is because it affects millions of people in one way or another. I believe that…

It’s easier said than done. Everyone always says that health should be a person’s No. 1 priority, but it’s not until push comes to shove that we understand the truth of this. I recently realized that my health was not as much of a priority as I was…

Self-love is so important. I read somewhere that we teach others how to love us through the way we love and treat ourselves.  So, I want to ask you: Do you treat yourself with the love you deserve? Do you expect to be shown love from others? Do…

I am passionate about raising sickle cell disease awareness. Increased awareness leads to a better understanding of the condition, which leads to more conversations about it. I believe that this will lead to conversations among people in positions of power, who can then take action to improve our lives.

This week has been challenging for me. A brutal combination of cold weather and stress has left me facing back-to-back sickle cell crises, and there’s no telling when it might end. In the past, I had been known to be quite stubborn about going to the hospital…

I’m writing this column during a sickle cell disease crisis. I have not had one this bad in a while, so I’ve been feeling pretty low. I recently explained to a friend that I hate feeling like I am helpless and wasting time whenever I have a crisis.

I have been writing for Bionews, the publisher of Sickle Cell Disease News, for over a year now. This experience has been amazing, to say the least. When I was first contacted about becoming a columnist, I was skeptical. I questioned whether I would be good…

I hate when sickle cell disease gets in the way of life, although I feel its effects 24/7. There is no escaping the symptoms, such as fatigue and chronic pain, which are less intermittent than the pain crises. But most times I can live with it, I can…

On Nov. 9, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their COVID-19 vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing people from contracting the novel coronavirus. On Nov. 16, Moderna announced their COVID-19 vaccine to have an efficacy of 94.5%.  I had zero expectations for…