Leukemia - @_ayodeleojelabi

“My name is Andy....I was diagnosed with CML,  chronic myeloid leukaemia 5 years and some few months ago. Now I have my orange necklace to raise awareness for CML. The orange #Aware necklace will help as a conversation starter....in my country Nigeria,  with the growing population of over 200million people, only few lucky ones get diagnosed, others don't, they die. I want to raise awareness because of this present situation and as well clear the stigma, CML is not a death sentence. Though no known cure now, but the disease can be prevented from progressing further. Earlier detection and proper diagnosis is important for CML. CML is a rare type of blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow. Our blood is made up of cells having 23 pairs of chromosomes. CML occurs when a piece of chromosome 22 and a piece of chromosome 9 break off and switch places. This new switch creates a new abnormal chromosome, part of 22 and part of 9, which scientists have come to know as Philadelphia(Ph+) chromosome. The abnormal Ph chromosome carries a gene called BCR-ABL ,which produces the BCR-ABL protein. The BCR-ABL protein is what triggers bone marrow to keep making abnormal white blood cells called CML, or leukaemic cells. Normally, the bone marrow stem cell maintain the correct balance of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. However in CML, the level of leukaemic cells increase and crowd out healthy cells, causing disease symtoms. Follow me on Instagram and see how I raised CML awareness to the peak at #Kilimanjaro with #iCMLF #climbForACure2019 @Uhuru peak aka Africa roof at #5895 m” @_ayodeleojelabi

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