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Before You Say ‘Yes’ to Love, Say ‘No’ to Pain:
The Genotype Talk We’re Not Having Enough
There’s something I need to say, and I hope you read this with your whole heart.
Before you fall in love…
Before you start calling him “mine”…
Before you start dreaming of wedding colors, matching outfits, and your future together…
Please. Ask him about his genotype.
yes you heard me, Ask him about his genotype.
It might sound unromantic. It might sound awkward. But believe me, it might be the most loving thing you’ll ever do for yourself, and for your future children.
A Memory That Still Hurts
Back in secondary school, I had a classmate. He was bright, funny, full of life. But he was always falling sick. Nobody really knew why. We whispered. We assumed. Some even said he had HIV. But one day, he collapsed during assembly. The school rushed him to the clinic, and it was there the truth came out: he was SS, he had sickle cell anemia.
A few of us went silent. The rest went numb. I still remember the way his lips turned pale that day, the way he gripped his side in pain. And I will never forget the day we heard he had passed, two years after graduation. He never made it to 20.
Pain that comes from love is never as bad as pain that comes from ignorance
