Sickle cell anaemia: When pain can be eased by drinking enough water

Upon diagnosis they quickly learned how to manage it (Photo: Courtesy)

When he was only seven, and on holiday at the Kenyan coast with his family, young Etemesi Ochola felt an unfamiliar pain in his right hand. He couldn’t move it. His worried parents would then rush him to hospital when he couldn’t even bend the limb.

 “Several tests were performed on me and the results showed that I had sickle cell anaemia,” Ochola, now 35, explains.