Daughter of the King

He's not even two and a half, but he's stolen a huge piece of my heart. This little boy is near and dear to me, and he's gone through more pain than many will in in their lifetime. Meet Joshua. Or Musa (Pronounced "Moo-sey" which is Luganda for Moses - because he's wise for his years). He's an old man in a little boy's body. And he has the biggest smile that lights up his entire face and everyone around him.    This precious little boy suffers from sickle cell disease. Sickle cell is a blood disorder where your red blood cells are actually shaped like sickles or crescents, hence the name.  Normal red blood cells are soft and round and can squeeze through tiny blood tubes (vessels). Normally, red blood cells live for about 120 days before new ones replace them.  People with sickle cell conditions make a different form of hemoglobin A called hemoglobin S (S stands for sickle). Red blood cells containing mostly hemoglobin S do not live as