If there's one advice I can give to anyone who cares to listen, it would be “cherish every single moment awake”. Many of us live our days like we have all the time in the world and you may be right. Maybe you'd end up living till you're old and grey, with a favorite rocking chair and 120 years to your name but what about the rest of your loved ones?
Life can be very fragile as one minute you're making a fuss about whether or not to spend time with a loved one and the next moment, you're cussing your entire being for not creating time for that loved one because they are no more.
The twenty-seventh of May, 2025, was a really dark day as it was the death anniversary of a friend. Growing up, 27th May happened to be one of my favorite holidays because first, it was a day in my birth month and second, it was children's day. One of the days I got to lollygag and basically express my laziness.
Then there was growth and tragedy.
We, the rest of the friend group, woke up on the 28th of May to the news that our friend with sickle cell disease died the previous night from a very severe crisis. Of course tons of questions arose; wasn't he rushed to the hospital? wasn't there anything medical practitioners could do to save him?
Just for clarification, a sickle cell crisis occurs when abnormally shaped red blood cells block blood flow in small vessels. This blockage prevents oxygen-rich blood from reaching tissues and organs, causing severe pain and organ damage. Anyone who knows anything about sickle cell crises would know that it can be excruciatingly painful and those who are survivors of the crisis have known what pain truly is.
Samuel was always a very strong individual or at least he acted as though he was. One could even say he was the life of the party. He made gatherings very fun and for a guy, he always had tea to spill, which we loved of course. The news about his demise was a very devastating one but we all kinda expected it. Having sickle cell disease in Nigeria automatically reduced his life span. Research shows that those with the disease usually die in the second or third decade of their lives and with Samuel, it was the second decade.
Since most of us from the friend group have been scattered to different parts of the world, we couldn't physically meet up to reminisce on what a lovely soul he was, so we did it online and it was a happy and sad experience.
YouTube
The song ringing through my mind during this brief get-together was “Memories by Maroon 5”.
Cheers to the ones that we've got
Cheers to the wish you were here but you're not.
Oh how much we would give to see Samuel once again. It was during this period last year that I realized that good health is very underrated. Also, one can have all the money in the world but that wouldn't matter when the doctors say there's ‘nothing else there can do to alleviate the pain’.
I had my doubts about writing this post because in a way, it would finalize the reality, a reality I still find very hard to face but I wrote the post either way. So here's a toast to Samuel and every other brave survivor battling with the sickle cell disease. You are a warrior with incredible inner strength and resilience. Living with the disease is a daily battle but it doesn't define your worth and certainly should not limit your potential.
Images belong to me.
