Sunday, 3rd May, 2020, ikorodu, Nigeria Underprivileged children, randomly-selected, were invited out of their lockdown cocoons at home to participate in an hour of sporting activities at Pashoku, Aga. It was part of an accustomed but rarely-reported effort of Richard Coker Foundation (RCF) to bring a smile to the face of African children. Before the…
Who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19? The immunosupressed. Who are the immunosuppressed? The elderly (70+), the young with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, etc and those with SCD of all ages. Folks with SCD are predisposed not just to COVID-19 but to infections of all sorts for a number of reasons,…
Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins turns 50 years old today, April 26, 2020. Here are snippets about one of America’s R&B music legends: Her full name is Tionne Tenese Watkins She was diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia at the age of 7???? Her ancestors are of Native American, African-American and Irish stock At 14, she worked in…
WIN A BOOK, GET EDITIONS OF SICKLE CELL NEWS MAGAZINE JOIN SICKLE CELL NEWS GROUP ON FACEBOOK Nora Molongwe, 38, had just returned from a trip to Bournemouth to receive the Inspiring Young People 2020 Award for her SCD advocacy. The IYP Award was part of the Women’s Community Impact Awards. Nora had partied with…
COVID-19 rubbishes plans for merrymaking … It’s April 21, 2020, and Nollywoood film maker Wale Fanu is 70 years old. Had she been alive, his mum would have been 100 years old today as well. ‘I have looked forward to my 70th Birthday for a long time,’ Fanu told SICKLE CELL NEWS two years ago,…
Research by Dibyendu Dutta, PhD and Seah H. Lim, MD, PhD indicate that reducing gut bacteria significantly improves the health of people living with sickle cell anaemia… SCD patients not only have altered bacterial population, they also have higher bacterial density in the gut. They also have leakier gut lining Research demonstrates healthy eating and…
If you were an adolescent in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, you probably know or have heard of Julie Coker. Till today, if your given name is Julie, people of that generation automatically add ‘Coker’ as a sobriquet. Though retired, Chief Julie Coker remains one of the shining lights in the history of broadcast…
Isaiah Muleme’s Seamless Bone Marrow Transplant Sarah Namugwanya of Kampala, Uganda, took her son, Isaiah Muleme for consultation in India for his Sickle Cell Anaemia treatment. Isaiah successfully underwent a Half Match Bone Marrow Transplant where his Dad was the Donor. Sarah says, ‘For the past year he didn’t had any infections, no pains, no…
JOIN SICKLE CELL NEWS ON FACEBOOK, WIN A BOOK! Anambra Sickle Cell Law Loses Staunch Supporter A Registered Nurse/Midwife, Registered Nurse Educator/Administrator and Fellow of the West African College of Nursing, Mrs. Falilat Funmilayo Salami always thought she had a problem on her hands if her children should marry ‘wrong’. Two of them are carriers…
COVID-19 Grinds June 19 Into Dust By Ayoola Olajide I was speaking with a friend who works with the United Nations in New York. A polyglot, she can’t stop – or can’t resist – sprinkling into her conversations a word or two from the native vocabulary of whomever she chats with. We had a long…
