Doctor's Advice Over Love. My take on marrying a fellow sickle cell carrier.
Let me begin my opinion on this matter by sharing a real-life story. My elder brother, some years ago, happened to get married to a woman who has sickle cell anaemia. When they both went for a genotype test, the doctor advised them not to continue with the marriage for the sake of their children. Surprisingly, my brother went against the doctor's advice and got married to the girl. A year later, the lady was pregnant and she gave birth. The child was healthy, but as she grew, she began to fall sick incessantly. Now the girl is living on medication. Over a period of three years, they have lost two babies. This is a consequence of going against the doctor's advice. Their genes didn't match but because of love, they went ahead to marry.
Well, that was for them. As for me, I can never take such a risk no matter the love I had for my man. The love can become sour when in the future, the children become sick or eventually die. So it is healthy to break such a relationship at an early stage before considering marriage.
Love covers lots of weaknesses hence the reason love is blind. However, one should open his or her eyes when one is about to fall in love. There are things one must consider if one wants to begin a life journey with another. One of these is checking the genotype. If it doesn't match, then it will be easier to end at an early stage than at an advanced stage.
Meanwhile, if as a result of our carelessness we failed to checkmate our genes, then at the point of getting married, we realised it, then I think I would let go of the relationship, this is because the repercussions will be far more than even the love we have for each other. Probably in the future, when children are born with sickle cell and the pains and discomfort that accompany such, the relationship might be affected.
I have witnessed families torn apart because of the children having this sickle cell issue. A family in my neighbourhood incidentally lost all three of their children. These happened after the children had become adults. The husband blamed the wife and vice versa, and before we could know it, they were separated, and the man went and married another woman and had children.
The fact is that the reality we fail to face today will meet us tomorrow. It might become so huge that it might end up eating us up if something isn't done today.
Therefore, I want to use this opportunity to tell those who are in a fix right now, considering whether to continue in that marriage against the doctor's advice. I would say that a broken relationship is better than a broken marriage. Love can be built, it will only take a little time.
This is my opinion on the prompt “Love vs Reality”. Thanks for stopping by.