Divine and Siri Mabo’s love story persevered through a misdiagnosed medical challenge, leading to a remarkable journey of healing for their children.<\/p>\n
MELISSA, Texas \u2014 Divine Mabo came to the United States as a teenager. And when a friend posted a photo online of a beautiful young woman from his native Cameroon, he knew he had to meet her.<\/p>\n
Their love story endures to this day, despite the trials and tribulations of a medical diagnosis they thought they’d taken every precaution not to bring with them from West Africa.<\/p>\n
And when you start a conversation with Siri Mabo, your iPhone will usually try to interrupt, as it did when I tried to ask her age.<\/p>\n
“My age is irrelevant,” my cell phone chirped.<\/p>\n
“Of course,” Siri Mabo laughed. “That’s the problem, every time,” she said during our conversation at the couple’s home in Melissa, Texas.<\/p>\n
Divine has been in the US since 2006, Siri since 2016. And, after meeting online through a mutual friend, they got married and started their life together in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
But before they did, back in their native Cameroon, they made sure they were tested for a common West African affliction: sickle cell disease.<\/p>\n
“Sickle cell is very prevalent in that part of Africa,” Siri said.<\/p>\n
Sickle Cell Disease is a genetic disorder where normally round red blood cells turn crescent-shaped, blocking blood flow. Severe pain, organ damage, and early death can be part of a diagnosis.<\/p>\n
“Because if two people have the sickle cell trait and they get married, then they have a chance of giving birth to kids with sickle cell,” Siri said of their reasons for getting tested. In Cameroon, they watched couples break up over sickle cell diagnoses since it meant any future children would be at risk.<\/p>\n
“We got results that said we both were not carriers of the sickle cell trait,” Siri said of the test results they received from medical experts in Cameroon. “So that meant we were clear to get married without having any fear of having kids with sickle cell.”<\/p>\n
Nathan was their firstborn. Two years later, fraternal twins Bryan and Brandon arrived.<\/p>\n
“It was really chaotic,” Divine Mabo said of the crisis that developed.<\/p>\n
Because near the age of three, Nathan was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. And the twins received the diagnosis that Divine and Siri thought was impossible: both had sickle cell disease and began developing painful symptoms when they were near six months old.<\/p>\n
“So, literally all three kids have an issue,” Divine said.<\/p>\n
The sickle cell screening tests they received in Cameroon before their marriage in Texas were wrong.<\/p>\n
“Contrary to what the results had said before, Divine and I are both carriers of the sickle cell trait and we passed it on to our kids unknowingly,” Siri said. “It was a very, very dark time for us.”<\/p>\n
“That has got to be the most devastating news I have ever heard,” Divine said.<\/p>\n