Lists out some of the stories in the last quarter edition of Sickle Cell News
The Sickle Cell Education Centre (SCEC), which gives free access to past, current and future editions of Sickle Cell News has published and released to the public the last edition for 2021. This edition is informative, educational and useful for global SCD sensitisation as other editions before it.
According to the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) a branch of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), Near-Death Experiences and Outside The Body Experiences are not unknown among children and adults who have suffered traumatic events such as accidents and near-drowning. A unique inherited blood condition, sickle cell oftentimes demonstrates its power by plunging those affected with it into severe sudden generalised or localised body pains known as sickle cell crises. At these moments, death may be close at hand if treatment is not swiftly initiated. On the hospital bed, some Sickle Cell Warriors have had Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) and Outside The Body Experiences (OBEs).
Two sickle cell warriors tell of their experiences on the last quarter edition of Sickle Cell News: one while in the stranglehold of severe illness, the other while performing a prescribed psychological exercise to raise his level of consciousness.
Generally, a benign health condition, having Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) can occasionally be a heavy burden. A Zambian, UK-born SCT activist tells of her unenviable grapple with a condition medical science largely considers benign. An estimated 300 million people worldwide have SCT and increasing research evidence indicates that SCT may, in some individuals bring on symptoms resembling full-blown sickle cell anaemia, apart from susceptibility to certain cancers.
With reference to cancer and sickle cell, an African phytoceutical, sorghum bicolor, found to be high in polyphenols, was recently listed in the US Cancer Institute’s Dictionary, signalling a possible adjunct to orthodox cancer treatment. Long known in sickle cell management in Africa, sorghum bicolour thwarts the need for repeated blood transfusion, a common thread among children and adults with sickle cell anaemia.
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the SCDAA’s MARAC has enjoined people with sickle cell to keep being watchful and to submit to taking all necessary vaccine doses. As a unique inheritance weakening the performance of red blood cells, SCD makes affected individuals susceptible to infections. The immunosuppression is comparable with that in diabetes, cancer, heart disease, HIV and other debilitating ailments. In most countries, priority is given to citizens with compromised immunity, SCD inclusive.
