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The Smallest Warriors, The Biggest Battles
<p>During a recent clinical posting, I was privileged to witness a medical mystery from an 8-year-old warrior. He was rushed to the emergency room with an awful amount of pain — but that wasn't all. He had a strange phenomenon that a lot of boys wake up with in adolescence: an erection so painful and stubborn that it became a cry for help.</p><p><br/></p><p>At first, I was very surprised. I mean, how can anyone not be, to see this condition in such a young child? Especially because I had never heard of the condition before.</p><p><br/></p><p>But when the doctor talked to our warrior's caregiver, he explained it as constantly dumping waste materials into a kitchen sinkhole — in this case, sickled red blood cells — which then clog the pipe (blood vessels) and cause the blood to be trapped, resulting in very painful, prolonged erections not relating to sexual arousal.</p><p><br/></p><p>This condition, called priapism, is a very rare complication of sickle cell anaemia, which is mostly triggered in children by lack of sleep, dehydration, or — as in our warrior's case — fever.</p><p><br/></p><p>Sickle cell anaemia is a non-communicable disease that is inherited when both parents carry a recessive sickle cell gene. It causes the red blood cells in the body to change from being round to looking like the letter "C", restricting their free movement in the body and causing blockages in several blood vessels — leading to several complications, including pain.</p><p><br/></p><p>While priapism may seem like a punchline, it is in fact a cry for help — and improper management can lead to very serious complications, such as tissue damage and death. This is why early diagnosis and intervention is necessary for other people like our young warrior.</p><p><br/></p><p>This experience gave me a view on how fast sickle cell anaemia can birth unexpected complications, and how important it is to be ready for them.</p><p><br/></p><p>And while I am being conscious of our warrior's confidentiality, I hope this little piece helps you — just like it helped me — to understand priapism better, and have an idea of how terrible the struggle is for our sickle cell warriors.</p><p><br/></p><p>Because sometimes, the most painful of diseases are the ones we least expect — and the smallest warriors face the biggest battles.</p>
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