Menace In My Blood: My Affliction With Sickle-Cell Anemia

Sickle-cell disease is a unique inherited and incurable condition of the blood cells which, according to doctors, has similarities with virtually all disease conditions known to mankind, including AIDS and cancer. Commonly affecting Africans and those with an African ancestry, the disease is also prevalent among Arabs, Turks, Greeks, Italians (chiefly Sicilians), Iranians and Indians. As a result of migration and other factors, the disease is rampant the world over. From England to the United States and Canada, from Brazil to the Caribbean, children are still being born with the disease and its trait. Medical science is able to offer little more than palliation, and even in countries with the most advanced medicare, the average life expectancy for sicklers is low-42 years for males and 48 for females. With a population in excess of 150 million, of which one in four are carriers of the sickle cell trait, Nigeria hosts the largest population of sicklers in the world - over 6 million at the last estimate.

Suffering from a severe form of the disease, the type which, especially in sub-Saharan Africa makes survival to adulthood a rarity, the author writes about his childhood, the pains of growing up with a major health impairment. He also talks about his early cigarette and alcohol abuse and of being sexually molested at the age of 7.

In this first of a series, the author touches on the social and political milieu into which he was born and weaves into his story the life experiences of significant others in his web of relationship.

This book will be a source of encouragement to all whom the medical profession gives little prospects, whether of healing or survival

REVIEWER'S COMMENT:

"This is a personal account of a man's struggle through the threatening spasms of life. The novel offers a great deal of information about the sickle-cell disease, the Yoruba, their anthropology, religion, and family systems. It is a definite statement about African culture and belief patterns. The crafting of the story is rich and captivating."

Professor Charles Ogbulogo Former HOD

Department of African & Asian Studies

University of Lagos

Nigeria