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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Health / Asiata Onikoyi-laguda, The Oldest Sickle Cell Patient In The World (985 Views)
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Asiata Onikoyi-laguda, The Oldest Sickle Cell Patient In The World by yemexy(m): 7:24pm On Dec 07, 2015 |
Onikoyi was born in November 1925, at a time
when the average life expectancy of people living
with sickle cell disorder was just five years.
Onikoyi, who was born in the same year
as Margaret Thatcher, first female British prime
minister; Malcolm X, civil rights activist, and Idi
Amin Dada, Ugandan dictator, older than ‘all’
known (documented) sickle cell patients in the
world.
As recently as 1973, the average lifespan for
people with sickle cell disease was only 14
years. Currently, life expectancy for these
patients can reach 50 years and over, New York
Times reports.
In 2013 alone, 176,000 people lost their lives to
sickle cell disease, most of them aged 21 years
old and under.
According to a special report by the Sickle Cell
Journal, she is the second of four children born
by her parents AbdulYekeen Ishola Onikoyi, a
prince of the Onikoyi ruling house, and Aishat
Alake Onikoyi from Kudeti, Ibadan.
Due to the level of illiteracy at the time of her
birth, she was never diagnosed to have had
sickle cell; she just had all the symptoms,
including terrific pain, which hindered her from
going to school till she was 12 years old.
She struggled through primary school, and
enrolled at Queens College Lagos, where she met
her husband Bolaji Alakija, who went on to
become a doctor.
He treated her for sickle cell, but never really
told her much about her condition, as it was the
culture in their day. Alakija had 27 children, five
of which were with Onikoyi and the rest for his
nine other wives.
Onikoyi, a devout Muslim, has performed the holy
pilgrimage to Mecca 13 times and gone for
lesser hajj, better known as Umrah, six times.
She says moderation kept her going and urges
other sickle cell patients around the world to toe
the same line.
“I have always maintained a middle road in life.
Moderation keeps you going, when those who
indulge themselves have lost their balance,” she
says.
At 90, Onikoyi is under no dietary restrictions
whatsoever; she eats salt, eggs, meat, sugar,
fried food, as it pleases her.
Her blood pressure is hovering around 160/90,
and she says she observed the annual 30-day
Ramadan fast until she was over 88, when
her children pressured her into giving it up.
Onikoyi says she reads the Bible and Quran
everyday, and takes public transport in
this “super-chaotic Lagos”.
She lost one of her sons in August 2014, when
he was 59 and accepted it as the “will of Allah”.
“I prayed to Allah that the rest of my children
should outlive me,” she says.
Every year in sub Saharan Africa, more
than 300,000 children are born with the sickle
cell disease.
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Re: Asiata Onikoyi-laguda, The Oldest Sickle Cell Patient In The World by kolaqee: 7:48pm On Dec 07, 2015 |
Wow!!! |
Re: Asiata Onikoyi-laguda, The Oldest Sickle Cell Patient In The World by Tequilah: 8:30pm On Dec 07, 2015 |
Wow!! How inspiring! May God grant her many more years of good health and sound mind. Amen. |
Re: Asiata Onikoyi-laguda, The Oldest Sickle Cell Patient In The World by wahles(m): 8:35pm On Dec 07, 2015 |
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