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Words Of Warning

By Tonisha Rock-Yaw

Take care of your health because what doesn’t happen in a day can happen in a year.

That was the advice of Joycelyn Millar who has suffered with Diabetes for 27 years. On top of that, the 50-year-old woman also has to contend with weekly dialysis treatments due to her kidneys issues that were identified about two years ago.

“After about 10 years of having diabetes, I went over to the hospital and then randomly they give me a blood test to check my kidneys every year, one day I went I would never forget when I went the doctor told me test is showing that the toxic levels in my blood is getting higher and higher. One day when it got to a certain level which is chronic they told me I have to go on dialysis to take the toxins out the blood.”

She added, “The first time the doctor told my kidneys failed I honestly sat in her office and cried but then when I come home and spoke to my family we prayed about it. I just asked God to take me through it but right now I probably would be further with it going for a kidney transplant because my husband is giving me his kidney and everything matched but the thing is it was put on hold because of the covid-19 pandemic.”

Millar said when she had diabetes it was not impacting her lifestyle. “When I had diabetes I still use to play netball, I use to exercise a lot and then its only in 1997 I had a stroke and from the time I had the stroke that slowed me down. When my kidneys failed, my lifestyle had changed dramatically because they’re so much things I can’t use like tomatoes, English potatoes, milk and dairy products, anything dark like dark chocolates etc.”

She added, “I don’t use the dialysis at the hospital, I do home dialysis and every night I have to do that for 10 hours which kind of messed up my life, but if I have to go out I would go and miss out the night but I never miss out two and three nights straight I just can’t.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic health officials have been asking people with non-communicable diseases and persons who have family members with these diseases to exercise extra precaution going. Medical practitioners have indicated that the majority of people who die from the novel coronavirus suffer from underlying conditions including NCDs. 

However, Millar says “Since this corona virus I haven’t gone anywhere they cancelled my hospital appointments and gave me medication to last a certain time so I haven’t left the house. I live with my husband and daughter they go to work and when they come in they sanitise right down.” 



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