It is 3 am, Monday night in one of the growing neighborhoods when Alpha wakes up to a sharp pain in his chest going all the way to his arm. He struggles to prop himself up. The pain intensifies, like a blade stabbing into his chest then it stops; giving him temporary relief. Then again, stab, stab, stab. He cannot figure out what is happening to him. He reaches for his phone to call, but who to call?. However he lives alone, has an on and off relationship with his family and he is fighting with his girlfriend. His friends are, well who would pick up on a Monday night, drive all the way across town to get to him? ‘Mwanaumenikujikaza,’. (Men should persevere). He and his bed are drenched in sweat and he is struggling with his breath.
He decides to hold through the night in pain until morning but the pain will not let him sleep. Has some bundles so he gets on to google and types his symptoms – Google is after all the big know it all. ANGINA, HEART FAILURE, STROKE flashes across his phone’s screen. Hallo panic. Come morning, he drags himself slowly to the hospital;tests, blood is drawn, blood pressure measured, weight taken…. you know the drill. Long story short, results show that Dr. google was not too far off; he had had a cardiac episode that would have proven to be fatal under normal circumstances. He is lucky to be alive.
Alphais a young man of 26 years who had been physically active. Works out occasionally and lives like any other post university young man. He is not the typical candidate for heart attacks (above 40 years old, with abdominal obesity, on blood pressure medication). However a closer examination of his family history reveals that his dad was called to an early grave from heart related complications. He die. On the other hand is erratic because for some reason. Part of being a young man is not taking care of your body. Missed meals, take out when hanging with the boys, a smoke or two and maybe a few occasional drinks. Fruits and veggies are those unnecessary things that your girlfriend or your wife pushes on you. Why water when there is a cold soda?
This might not be your story, far from it. You know that your body is a temple. The machine with no spares that ferries you around, it enjoys your experiences (the pleasures and displeasures of smells, tastes, touch, feelings, and thought processes), it is your armor too. You take good care of it, like you would old scrolls with ancient wisdom to be passed on through generations; or like you would a new limited edition motorgari. But you have a brother, a son/ daughter, a friend, a husband or wife who lives like there is no tomorrow. A person you care about whose health is last on his/her priority list. But he or she is your family.
There is a good number who would rather not think of or talk of their biological family for one reason. Or another there is a truth none can escape; you carry them with you. Your genetic composition from your hair type, to the color of your skin, your food preferences and allergies, your predisposition to getting certain diseases is all tied to the man and woman that sired you, and those who sired them and those before them, and so on and so forth. And from our acquired family – by marriage or the friends that become family – besides the shared love and joy, there are diseases that could be passed on to each other; Hepatitis B, HIV and a myriad more viral infections, some of which are incurable.
What does all these doom and gloom health situation that is rummaging through got to do with family? First and the most obvious is that the disease burden falls on the family. A person suffering from kidney failure stemming from diabetes or high blood pressure complications will need dialysis or a kidney transplant which you can be sure will hemorrhage into their family’s savings, digging even into family assets. Accompanying the financial implications is the mental and emotional turmoil the patient and the family suffer. Should Alpha’s condition worsen, who do you reckon will take care of him, pay for his cardiologist visits, his dietician, his medication. Who will hold his hand and maybe pray with him or whatever other people do to comfort each other? Family.
Second reason why family is key to mitigating the rising tides of health tsunamis is the fact that in every family, there is at least one health conscious person; One who knows what to do in terms of diet, gets the appropriate health checkups (dental, optical, spine, heart, prostate and cervical, gastro-intestinal, HIV status) every so often, keeps fit and trim, and takes care of their mental health. Maybe that person is you. Maybe you are making these changes for your well-being as we speak but your brother isn’t, your sister isn’t, your spouse isn’t, your child isn’t. You cannot feign ignorance for that as we see catches up with you. I (your dietician) and your doctor cannot come to your house and lobby or push your people for you, but you can.
I believe that family is the place where beliefs and the ways of life are cultivated and implanted. It is from these people we learn and adopt our way of life. Good or bad. This October as we commemorate family health and fitness and in our everyday life, purpose to take care of yourselves and of each other. Family could be for you the place of acceptance or rejection, of building up or tearing down, of love in its different shades or lack thereof; You could have been born into it or it could be one of your choosing…. Family is family and it means a lot of different things to each one of us, even then,Be your brothers’ keeper.
Written By,
AbabachTamiru
Nutritionist/Dietician
