Everyone kept saying, “Just marry AA and you’re safe.”
That was exactly what happened in my family.
My aunt was genotype AA. Her husband was confirmed AS. They did the routine genotype test before marriage, and everyone was relieved. They believed they had nothing to worry about.
Then their first child was born.
A few months later, the baby was always weak, cried often, and was in and out of the hospital. After several tests, the doctors delivered shocking news: the child had sickle beta thalassemia.
Nobody could understand it.
“How is this possible? We checked our genotypes!”
It turned out that while my aunt was AA, she was also carrying a beta-thalassemia trait that had never been tested for. The combination with her husband’s genes led to their first child being born with sickle beta thalassemia.
The tears, hospital visits, sleepless nights, blood transfusions, and emotional stress that followed were things no family ever imagined when they heard, “AA and AS are safe.”
This is why genotype alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
If you’re planning to get married or have children, don’t stop at the basic AA, AS, SS test. Speak with a qualified healthcare professional, go for proper premarital genetic counseling, and ask whether additional screening, including testing for thalassemia traits, is appropriate for you.
A few extra tests today could prevent years of heartbreak tomorrow.
Love is important, but informed decisions can protect the family you’re praying for.
Please, let's help this brother get his family home, from the hospital.
2012714687
Kuda bank
Musa sulaimon
No amount is too small and none is too much. Thank you
In January 2022, Chidi Okafor found a file he was never supposed to see.
He was a Senior Internal Auditor at Pinnacle Financial Services — one of Lagos’s fastest-growing microfinance institutions.
The file was mislabelled.
He opened it by mistake.
He wished, many times in the years that followed, that he hadn’t.
My elder brother paid my school fees for 3 years.
I thought he was doing it because he loved me.
Then one night, I overheard him telling my mum the real reason.
I couldn't sleep after that.