The human spirit is very powerful and resilient for those who know it and believe in it. One of such persons is Brother Benedict Nwaobilor Mbonu, who lives with the much-dreaded sickle cell disorder. He has endured the constant crises, excruciating pain, and repeated hospitalisations associated with the condition.
Despite these challenges, he went to school, got married, had children, and went on to celebrate his 65th birthday on 28 December 2025. The icing on his memorable birthday cake was the unveiling of his book, now being reviewed.
I was at the book unveiling to witness the joyous moment, which drew the crème de la crème of his relatives and friends, as well as government officials from Rivers State, politicians, and Catholic priests.
The 45-page memoir is unputdownable. You will not stop reading it until you finish it. In the pages, you see a lifetime of severe health challenges, the destructive tendencies of some traditional or religious beliefs, the eventual discovery of the fact that he had sickle cell disease, and how he has survived through the years, and got to 65.
He did not just get to 65 years on a jolly ride!
Despite his predicament, Mbonu managed to attend primary and secondary schools, a seminary, a College of Education, and the University of Port Harcourt, where he bagged a first degree in Education.
He was also a catechist in his village’s Catholic parish and successfully worked in the Rivers State civil service at the Ministry of Education, where he retired meritoriously in 2016 after 35 years of service.
Mbonu, who hails from Egbelubi Ndashi community in Etche Local Government Area, is happily married to a nurse, Mrs. Regina Kings Mbonu with one surviving son, Obichi, among three children he fathered.
Can you beat this!
Let me take you through the book. Chapter One, titled Preamble, offers a philosophical reflection on life, ancient beliefs, suffering, faith, the human spirit, and survival.
He wrote: ‘Of the eight surviving children out of eleven (of his parents), I became the only scapegoat among them born a sickle cell (SS) patient’. In the olden days, anyone born with SS genotype was regarded as ‘a spirit child’ or ogbanje in Igboland, abiku in Yorubaland, or other terms in other parts of the country.
It was only in the 80s and 90s that awareness about sickle cell anaemia began to gain ground through UNICEF, USAID, etc, but many of the carriers died before their fifth birthday.
Chapter Two of the book deals with Mbonu’s birth, early life, and childhood. He was born in Kaduna, where his father, a soldier, served. His father was also a catechist in the Army, St. Mary Catholic Chaplaincy, His birth on 5 December 1960 ‘heralded a spontaneous joy and fanfare being the first male child among the first four children back then’, he recalled.
His grandparents named him Nwaobilor, meaning ‘child of joy and consolation’. But not long after, the symptoms of the sickle cell disease and its attendant health issues showed up! What a paradox!
Chapter Three captures his educational background. He battled to attend primary school and obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1975. Not deterred by his precarious health, he proceeded to Sacred Heart Seminary in Port Harcourt and made Grade 1 in the West African School Certificate Examinations in 1980.
When the health challenges could not allow him to become a Reverend Father he had desired, Mbonu proceeded to the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt, where he bagged NCE in 1985.
His can-do spirit took him to the University of Port Harcout, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education (BA.Ed) in 1993.
Chapter Four is on his religious and spiritual life. Of course, when all the incantations, incisions, and herbs of native doctors could not give him cure, Mbonu turned to God and gave his life to Christ. In the process, he himself became a miracle worker and healed the sick.
For some time, he, too, had some respite. Not long after, his affliction returned, but his faith in the healing power of the blood of Jesus never waned, he said.
Somehow, reprieve came in 1977. ‘I came to know that I was a sickler when in 1977 I was hospitalised and came in contact with one Dr. (Mrs.) Esimokumor, a white lady married to a Rivers State man (now Bayelsa). It was this woman who opened my eyes (to what sickle cell disease is) and encouraged me to tell doctors this, any time I go to the hospital’, he recalled.
This meant that at that time, even many Nigerian doctors didn’t know what sickle cell disease was.
Chapters Five on social life and Chapter Six on family life showed that Mbonu never allowed the health challenges to deprive him of social life: dancing, being a goalkeeper, flexing with girls, and eventually marrying his heartthrob, a pretty nurse, Regina Kings. And they were blessed with three children.
Knowing his genotype at this time enabled him to select the right partner who also had a supporting career. He confessed that marrying Regina has brought him a lot of care and relief till today.
Chapter Seven on his working career details his life battles as an auxiliary teacher, full-time classroom teacher, and later as a worker at the Zonal Post-Primary School Board.
Chapter Eight contains the details of his numerous health challenges and the various measures: traditional, religious, and orthodox, to seek solutions to his problem to no avail.
Chapter Nine on living the life of a sickle cell disease patient is more on creating awareness of what the disorder is all about, the symptoms, the causes, risk factors, complications, diagnoses, prevention and treatment. This chapter makes this book very important for all persons who have AS and SS genotypes, medical doctors, medical personnel, health authorities, and society at large.
As a result of ignorance, even at this time and age, some people still think that sickle cell disease is an evil attack. This book can be adopted by various State government ministries of health or social welfare for mass enlightenment.
In concluding this book review, I believe in the words of Mbonu’s sister, Revd. Sister Caroline Mbonu, PhD, a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Port Harcout, who told me that Ben’s life demonstrates the concept and name Chinwendu, “God owns life”!
Nkwocha, PhD, is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations
