Strain

Ekene! If I catch you! Stop this thing now, Ekene!

Whoa!

Another cat and mouse game? Wait, what is going on?

Daddy! - What is the problem?

Ebere is making noise and disturbing me.

It's big sis Ebere!

And it's music, not noise. - OK.

It's noise when it won't let me finish my story.

When I bring home the Grammy,

I will remember to mention you in my acceptance speech.

Wait, wait, wait! OK, OK, OK!

You know what, how about you go sit down and finish up your Grammy song?

I don't want to sit down! - Ugh. OK.

You know what? Let me scold him. Let me scold him.

Hmm?

OK. Young man, with me.

You're writing another one.

Looks nice.

So…

What is this? How do you pronounce this?

Gobbling…

Baby. - Yeah.

You're not ready?

Isn't our reservation for…

Says the person in flip-flops.

Work?

Yeah.

I'm sorry, does this happen to everybody in your workplace?

Hmm… I don't know.

They do know you have a family, right?

Baby.

This is impromptu.

A junior colleague just made a costly mistake on a proposal.

We…

I have to clean up after him.

Right.

And what about our date?

Baby, let's reschedule, please.

Reschedule?

It won't happen again.

I will make it up to you. - You will…

You're kidding me, right?

Sorry.

Daddy, come look at this, I got it!

OK.

Nice.

But of course I can even do better.

What?

You don't believe me?

Unlike you, I'm going to need a record for future purposes.

Ekene, please make a video of me.

Yes.

Yes. May I, madam?

Hmm… you may.

Hmm.

OK.

Sorry.

I have this. I can do this.

You have it? - I do, I have it.

You have it. Let's go. - I do have it.

Oh my God.

What? You don't believe that I can do it?

Well, it's not that difficult, guys. C'mon, what's funny?

Mm-hmm. - There! There you go!

Psst.

Where's everybody?

Well…

We waited for you.

They got tired, so they went to bed.

I'm sorry for messing up our plans today, honey.

It's OK.

The kids and I, we had a great time.

We even made videos. Let me show you.

Really? - Mm-hmm.

So, look at this one. Look at it.

No way!

That is Ekene pretending to be…

I don't know, Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder or Cobhams or something.

What was he thinking?

That's the thing, he wasn't thinking.

God! These kids.

Look at Ebere. - I know, she had a great time.

Good afternoon, sir. - Hello. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, madam. Children, you are welcome.

I believe this is the Ezeji's family. - Yes.

I hope I got the name right.

You are welcome. Welcome to Lufasi Nature Park.

Thank you.

My name is Usman. I shall be your tour guide for today.

Nice to meet you. - Shall we begin?

Yes. - Yes, let the nature experience begin!

Hey, easy, birthday girl!

Easy. - Let's go this way.

This way? - All right.

It is surprising to see that Lagos has such an interesting space.

Who would have known?

Well, I am not surprised, sir.

Because most visitors do say the same thing.

It's so tranquil that someone might forget they're still in Lagos.

That is very very correct.

You see, several people will come here

to cool off and sometimes clear their minds.

Right. - I see why.

So, sir, sir. - Yes.

I think this is where my work stops. I have to leave you now.

Aw. - Ebere.

Cool? Um…

All right, sir. It's been a great pleasure.

Bye. - Thank you.

Thank you. - I hope you guys had fun.

Yes, best birthday ever!

OK.

Ekene, is everything OK?

Ekene! Ekene! Ekene! - Ekene!

Ekene!

Go start the car. Go start the car, please!

OK! OK! OK!

Ekene! Ekene!

So-so-so… Ekene is a sickler?

No! We don't call them sicklers.

However, he has the Sickle Cell Disease

as suspected by the doctor who referred you to us.

That's impossible. Right?

Doctor. Only one of us has the sickle cell trait.

I'm AS and my husband is AA.

Hmm, that's interesting. Was this confirmed by a blood test?

Yes, when I was in secondary school.

And for me, just before we got married.

Well, for a child to have the sickle cell disease,

both parents should have one S gene.

I highly recommend that you both take another test.

OK, let's… let's… say for the sake of argument…

you are right.

So…

But these things are usually discovered at infancy.

They are usually detected early. Ekene is six?

Six, he is six years old.

Detection at his age is not unusual.

However, he would be showing some recurrent symptoms before now.

What symptoms?

Well, for one, he would have episodes of extreme weakness.

Why isn't he in bed?

Well, he wanted me to carry him to his room.

That's strange.

Does he have a temperature?

No, he doesn't.

He's normal.

He probably just exerted himself at school.

Ah, I think he's just exercising his last born rights.

In that case, he should take all his time. Because he has forever to go.

I'm going to bed, honey. - OK.

It's easy to miss, especially when we make assumptions using logic.

Another commonly misunderstood symptom is severe headache.

Where's Ekene? Isn't he ready for school?

Uh, no, he complained about a very bad headache this morning.

Again? - Mm.

Baby, just give him Ibuprofen after breakfast. OK?

And most parents will just administer medication without a test.

Another symptom…

I get the picture, Doctor.

So what now?

Well… Ekene will be placed on daily medication.

As in every day?

Yes.

Everyday.

For the rest of his life?

I understand that this is a challenging time

and that things will change a lot for your family,

especially for Ekene.

I… recommend that you both sign up with a genetic counsellor,

to help your family ease into this new way of life.

For the rest of his life?

My son…

It's OK.

Ekene.

Going forward, you will immediately let us and your teachers know

anytime you feel unwell. OK?

And no more rough play, especially in school.

Yes, Mummy.

And you, Ebere…

moving forward you're going to have to watch your brother

with the eyes of a hawk, hmm?

And report to us immediately if you see anything amiss.

All right?

This affects all of us.

Yes, Daddy.

We will beat this. OK?

OK?

Isn't this where we hug?

Young man… comb your hair.

Good morning, Daddy. - Good morning, Dad.

Good morning, guys.

Dad! I just combed that.

If that was combed,

then what I did was an improvement on it.

OK, guys, we are running late.

OK? Have a great day at school and take care of yourselves.

Hmm? - OK.

Ekene. Remember to put an extra bottle of water in your bag.

Uh… how about your medicine?