Sickle Cell and l

I myself am a 57 year old warrior. Diagnosed at birth, but still don’t know who had the trait or the disease. My parents say they didn’t have a trait, but someone did in order for my sister and I to have SS.

Viewed as a liar

Living with sickle cell has been really hard, especially when I was younger. It was hard to make plans to do anything big because I would always go into a crisis. I have spent so many birthdays and holidays in the hospital. When I was in school people would always say that I was faking. They would say "she was just fine a minute ago." I would even end up in the E.R. and some of the nurses and doctors would say that I was there for drugs because I would go so often. I have even received water shots in the E.R. because they didn’t believe I was really hurting that bad.

My heroes

My parents and sisters worked in the medical field and were so helpful when I did go to the hospital. They would question the doctors and make sure they were doing their job. When you are that sick you expect the staff to have mercy or even a little compassion, but they would say I was a drug seeker. Of course, I was a drug seeker; I’m in a full-blown crisis and was not getting any relief because of the stupidity of someone who went to school to help others, but instead, they became something else. Now I have learned to listen to my body and pray a lot, and it has really helped me a lot. Veronica.