People With As Genotypes Getting Married by Apostle Femi Lazarus: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

What a Sickle Cell Crisis Actually Feels Like

Describing the experience to someone unfamiliar with sickle cell disease, one survivor compared a crisis to "taking a hammer and knocking it on my nail cap vigorously." Another recounted going into what felt like advanced labor pain during a hospital visit, only for medical staff to realize it was actually a sickle cell crisis rather than childbirth. The pain occurs largely around the joints, because that's where blood cells are produced in the bone marrow, and sickled cells, misshapen rather than round, struggle to pass through that area.

How the Genetics Work, and Where Assumptions Go Wrong

Two people carrying the sickle cell trait (AS) can still have healthy AA children. Genetics work by probability, not guarantee, so it's possible for a couple who are both AS to have several AA children and only one AS child, or the reverse. That variability is part of what makes some couples gamble on their genotype compatibility rather than take it seriously. Misdiagnosis was cited as a real, recurring problem: a significant portion of parents interviewed believed they were AA based on an earlier test, only to later learn the original result was wrong, after already having a child with sickle cell disease. New-birth screening is recommended in many countries specifically to catch this kind of earlier misdiagnosis before it leads to more children born with the condition.

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) as an Option

For couples who are both carriers of the trait and want biological children without passing on sickle cell disease, PGD, used alongside IVF, allows embryos to be screened before implantation so that only unaffected embryos are chosen. According to the guest, when done properly, this route can eliminate the chance of a child inheriting sickle cell disease, though IVF itself carries its own separate medical considerations worth discussing with a qualified doctor.

The Ongoing Weight of Living With Sickle Cell Disease

Caregivers, including siblings, often experience real emotional strain from protecting a family member with sickle cell disease from crisis-triggering situations. Patients described further ongoing effects: yellowing of the eyes, chronic fatigue, leg ulcers, occasional need for hip replacement, and the financial burden of consistent medical care. Advice shared included consulting a doctor and securing appropriate travel vaccinations before travel, and exercising within one's individual limits rather than avoiding physical activity altogether. One account described a young man whose grandmother, without any medical knowledge of his condition, nonetheless kept him consistently well-nourished throughout childhood; care that may have reduced the frequency of his crises before he was formally diagnosed in his teens.

A Call for Greater Awareness and Regulation

The book discussed was developed with input from physicians to keep its content medically grounded rather than sensationalized. Its author expressed willingness to work with government health authorities toward broader public education and stronger genotype-screening regulations before marriage, in the hope of reducing the number of children born with the condition going forward.