My cousin passed away from sickle cell about 3 yrs ago, he never lived to see his 21st birthday. His mum is a carrier and I think his dad either has sickle cell or is a carrier too. One of his brothers has sickle cell, the other brother and sister are fine. I will never forget the night all the family had to rush to the hospital because the doctors said he wasn't going to make it, this was after christmas, january. All I heard was my aunty's screaming and I knew he had gone. Just a minute before the family had to take it in turns to go in the room and see him, and I kept hearing my aunty say "I don't want to hear that machine stop, shush I want to hear the machine beeping".

Throughout christmas he was in pain, but he refused to go to the hospital, he said he had enough of being in and out of hospital. Because he left it so late to go to the hospital, had he come around he would have been a vegetable, as everything had shut down and stopped working. If he went at a decent time he might still be alive today.

I myself have been tested for sickle cell, I think everyone should. U can ask ur partner all the questions under the sun about themself or their family history, but if they have never been tested or don't know about their family history, then u and ur child are still going to be put at risk.