Sickle cell patient fighting to stay alive

For the past two years, Akida Doyle has carried a chilling warning from his doctors in the back of his mind. He was told that he might not live to see 30.

Now 29, Doyle says those words haunt him more than ever as he battles the debilitating effects of sickle cell disease and struggles to get the urgent medical treatment he believes he needs to extend his life.

“At JFK Hospital in New Jersey, my doctors and haematologist told me I might not live to see 30 if I don’t do my surgery. I am 29 now,” said Doyle, who admitted that the warning has become increasingly difficult to ignore as his health worsens.