Sickle cell disease key factor in his lonely life

“I have sickle cell disease. I’ve had it my whole life. My earliest crisis was when I was 9 or 10. My red blood cells aren’t shaped circular. They’re shaped like a sickle. When they get clogged up in certain spots, it causes major pain.

“I’ve been in the hospital for it way too many times in my life. I was just there a month or so ago. I’m in the hospital so much, I don’t really have a social life. It’s pretty much gone. Dating a woman, when you’re always in the hospital, that’s not very attractive. So I’m alone a lot. Actually, I’ve always been kind of a loner.

“The fact that I’m always away from other people, off on my own, I notice stuff that a lot of people don’t notice. I’ve learned to see things that other people don’t see. There’s a lot of stuff out there. But when you’re alone all the time, who do you tell it to?”

— Preston Peterson