'Sometimes I dey ask God why?' - Man wey born quadruplets wit sickle cell

Wen Favour Umunna wey don already born two pikin, get belle for her third, she bin wonda why di belle big wella. She no too surprise wen scan tell her say na three pikin she carri inside di belle.

But wen she born, e come be say na four pikin come out. As book pipo dey call am, she born quadruplets. Ruth, Deborah, Hannah and Esther wey dey 10-years-old now.

"I happy as di pikin dem come out, pikin na blessing from God," she tell BBC Pidgin.

But as di pikin dem reach three years, na im she notice say dem dey too sick.

"Wen dem dey three years, one of dem come get pain for her bone and joints, na im doctor say make we go do genotype test. Na dia we find out say she be SS. We do test for di oda three and all of dem be SS," she tok.

Wen pesin red blood cell no fit cari enough oxygen go round di whole bodi den dat pesin get sickle cell. Sickle cell anaemia na disease wey pesin fit inherit from im parents.

Di pikin dia papa, Anaba Umunna na fridge repairer. Im tell BBC Pidgin say e no easy at all to take care of di girls and im family because evritime, dem dey hospital.

"Even now sef we just dey come from hospital as di girls bin dey get chest pain and serious cough. We spend three days for hospital."

"I go tell you truth, sometimes e get as e be and I go ask God, 'why you give dem to me? Why dem come to pass through dis kain suffering,' because wen e start, tension go dey evriwia, nobody go dey happy. Even di ones wey senior dem, e dey affect dem too because sometime dem no go go school, at least one of dem go stay wit me take care of dem." Na so im tok.

Dia mata na im make one - NGO Sickle Cell Interactive and Management Association SCIMA wey dey create awareness make pipo know wetin be sickle cell anaemia and go check dia genotype. Dem don carri di mata for head to raise up to seventy million naira for stem cell transplant for di quadruplets and three oda pipo so dem go get cure for sickle cell disease.

Founder of SCIMA, Ifeoma Chrys-Bernadette Ifejika also get sickle cell disease and don live wit am for 53 years. She tell BBC Pidgin say information and awareness na di way to take prevent di spread of sickle cell anaemia so pipo go know dia genotype before dem start any relationship so dem no go born pikin wey go get sickle cell disease.

Cure for Sickle Cell disease?

Prof Nosa Godwin Bazuaye na professor for haematology and stem cell transplantation doctor. Im tell BBC Pidgin say wit stem cell transplant from donor, pesin wey get sickle cell disease fit dey cured from di sickness.

"Bone marrow transplantation and stem cell transplant na di same tin. Na di process we dey take cure sickle cell disease, na di only cure for sickle cell disease. Wit dat method, we go collect stem cells from pesin wey be AA or AS. Dat stem cell be like mother hen wey dey produce blood, but we go first destroy di stem cells for di sickle cell patient before we go transplant dis new stem cell into am. Dis new stem cells go begin produce new blood cells so if di pesin wey donate na AA, di sickle cell patient go come become AA so e no go get di disease again," im tok.

Prof Bazuaye say between 2011 and 2014, dem do do three successful stem cell transplant of sickle cell patients for University of Benin Teaching Hospital UBTH but di transplant centre dia no dey work again. But between 2017 to date, dem don do anoda six successful stem cell transplant for Celltek Healthcare Medical Centre for Benin City Edo state and all of dem dey live well.

"Dis disease don dey wit us e don tey. We dey call am 'Abiku', we dey call am 'ogbanje' but we fit prevent am. Prevention dey bata dan cure. Nigeria na im get di highest number of sickle cell in di world as about 2-3% of Nigerians get di sickle cell disease and about 25% of Nigerian dey carri di disease. So to prevent am na for pipo not to born pikin wey get di disease. About 150,000 pikins wey dem born yearly dey get di disease for Nigeria."

Prof. Bazuaye say to do one stem cell transplant for Nigeria dey cost reach 10 million naira but e cost more to go abroad go do am as e cost reach $200,000 to do am for Europe.

Im come add say goment suppose make genotype testing free so evribodi go know dia own and e go dey dia ID card.