Thursday, February 25, 2010

We still look good ;o)

Growing up, I didn’t know a lot about diseases. I knew about measles, mumps and chicken pox because either I or my brothers had contacted one or the other at one time. I didn’t know anything about sickle cell but since I read a lot, I knew it was something that had to do with the blood and sickle shaped cells that made you very ill. Left to me, it was none of my business because it didn’t affect me or anyone I knew directly *shrugs*. 

Fast forward to high school, QC had loads and loads of girls from different backgrounds, tall, short, fat, thin and of course, girls of different genotypes. Yes, by now I knew the meanings and differences between blood groups and genotypes ;o) One particular classmate of mine struck me the most. She was VERY pretty, her hair cascaded down her back and her complexion could be described as golden. She was loads and loads of fun (she still is, if I might add), very friendly and she had loads of admirers *wink*. 

Knowing all these, it made me sad when she'd miss school for days on end, due to illnesses caused by her SS genotype. I could only imagine the sort of pain she went through but before u knew it she was back in school, her same old bubbly self, smiling and laughing everywhere and you momentarily forgot about the illness until it resurfaced again, which like a thief in the night, it always did. Her pretty feline eyes would get yellow, she'd lose weight and she'd be unusually quiet. And then she'd bounce back again. It was a very annoying cycle. 

Now we're older and wiser, we try to manage these things; we continually learn new ways to keep ourselves safe and health. Bukola is still my friend and she's still very beautiful. Imagine how much more beautiful she would be without the scourge of this deadly disease known as the sickle cell anaemia.  Regardless, she’s still one of the flyest and prettiest people I know. Discovered thousands of years ago, a cure is yet to be found. 

While we sit, wait and pray, we might as well do things to make life easier while we live in this world with this disease. I would like to give props to Tosyn Bucknor for her "Jeans for genes" initiative, a tee shirt and jeans party tagged “Looking good in these genes”. The 2nd edition of this event comes up at 3pm on the 27th of March 2010 at Swe Bar, City Mall, Onikan, Lagos to raise awareness on this disease as well as try to help a lady living with sickle cell pay her hospital bills.  The event will feature fashion shows by tee shirt designers including Strictly Naija, Imagine clothing,  Toni Payne, OUCH, Happy Faces et cetera  with music by S.K.A.L.E.S., Dipp, Skuki, Lami, Hakym the Dream, Zara, Overdose, Willy Bang, Loose Kaynon, Mo Cheddah and others. We’ll come out and party because we know that despite the shape of our blood cells, we still look good. There’ll also be t-shirts and accessories for sale as well as a photo shoot and models on a runway *wink*. For any more information on this event or the cause as a whole, please visit www.thesegenes.blogspot.com.