Edward Waters has been dealing with pain all his life.
He has sickle cell anemia, an inherited condition that causes blood cells that are usually round and flexible to take a crescent moon shape. Those cells don’t pass through the veins easily and block oxygen to areas of the body, causing severe pain.
Waters’ pain was controlled by opioids doctors prescribed: OxyContin and oxycodone. Sometimes the pain would be so rough he was admitted to the hospital for intravenous treatment.
But in 1997, things changed. In a way, Waters took his pain management into his own hands. Check out the full story
By Erica Morrison, OPB
