last year. this is bbc news. now on bbc news, africa eye — sickle cell: the enemy within. my name is lea. i may look like a normal twentysomething... ..but my life is often consumed by illness.

approximately 1,000 people are born every day in africa with sickle cell. i have sickle cell disease. up to 90% of us die before the age of five. 0ur government do little to help us. even in our own communities, people with sickle cell are often treated like outcasts because of misconception and stigma surrounding the disease. i'm putting my life on the line

to fight this deadly disease. and to dispel the myths that surround it. sickle cell is not witchcraft. it's not — it's not ancestral curses. it's something that we can solve. gentle guitar music plays. speaks swahili. 0h, damn! the abnormal sickle—shaped red blood cells in my body affect my oxygen levels. one of the biggest problems with sickle cell is oxygen. like, if you don't have sufficient oxygen, so you can only push your body far for a good number

of days before you need to really rest. now, he's telling people, "this guy has sickle cell," and they don't even know i have sickle cell. i've been raising awareness about the devastating impact of sickle cell on patients and families for years. ..some of us have not accepted sickle cell... ..subscribe and... we'll have this conversation again. thank you! i try to help my fellow survivors. fresh, green leafy vegetables for people living with sickle cell, like myself. and advocate to the authorities to act. it's also a way for the government, the ministry, to see that these - people are a forgotten demographic in this country and they need to set| up health and support infrastructure |to be able to manage their disease. i when i was younger, i never knew what sickle cell was.

ijust knew, like, sometimes, my sisters would just wake up in pain at night. throughout my battle with sickle cell, my brother paul has always been my rock. now, he's at my side again and i take on my biggest challenge yet. with my brother's help, i plan to fight through my illness and run the nairobi half marathon.

when it comes to sickle cell, they're encouraged against getting tired. i also knew that when she bites into something, she doesn't let go. the marathon idea came — came into my mind when i was like, "i need to do something. "i need to do something to — to physically show that i can "— i can do it, like, someone with sickle cell "can do it." my doctor has cautioned against running the marathon — it could trigger a crisis and bring on severe complications — but i'm determined to do it. notjust for me.

80 million of us suffer with this disease across africa. we have to believe. the other day, i was telling one of my sickle cell advocates in nigeria that i am doing the marathon and she was like, she was like — she was very, very upset. she was like, "no! "no! "sickle cell patients have this thing of saying "they can do this. "you cannot do a marathon. "lea, please! "you cannot." so, of course i can. of course i can. and i will, so... yeah, i want to do that. not to show her because yes, i have a chip on my shoulder, but i want to live a normal life. i want to do these things that i want to do. i want to see where my body can — can — can stretch to, yeah? without snapping, of course.

for my training, i'm going back to my home town, taveta. it's also the place where i think i can make the biggest difference for thousands of people living with the disease. in taveta, almost a quarter of the population have the sickle cell gene. but those living with the disease receive very little support. ijoin a local group as they prepare to march on a nearby hospital and demand better services for sickle cell patients.

we go to the local hospital to protest.

albert is the leader of this group. like so many other parents of children with sickle cell, he has suffered from the stigma and poverty that surrounds the disease, but he is determined to find a solution. singing. albert was one of the first people i met and he was one of the few who spoke to me. like, the passion — like, this was one of the parents that i saw who did not feel the shame or the stigma of sickle cell.

all sing.

i know how destructive the myths surrounding sickle cell can be, especially in rural areas. a lot of communities, we attribute sickle cell to ancestral curses, witchcraft. this is — ok, this is a situation for any unknown thing in the community. people form their own stories around them. so, i had to go and tell people that sickle cell is — is not witchcraft. it's not — it's not ancestral curses. it's something that we can solve. but slowly, things are beginning to change. i organised a meeting, hoping the community might come out.

i needn't have worried. with the community behind us, albert and i decide to join forces and up our game.

albert and i scour the community, finding more and more people that have sickle cell in their families,

many of them in dire need of medicine. i soon realised the true scale of the problem and how desperately the people in taveta need access to quality, affordable care. majority of people who earn less than $1 a day or $2 a day will not sacrifice the meal of their home to buy this expensive medicine. it's either the meal or the medicine. i'm getting my community to help it needs. but it is tiring work and the marathon is only four weeks away. so this is the tavern. today, i was able to run, but i ran for approximately 20

seconds and had to stop, take a breath, relax, walk, then run again for 20 seconds and, yeah, it was... it showed how unfit i am — like, i am extremely unfit, but i am working on that. my family has always been there to help me through my most difficult times but they, too, have their challenges. all my sisters have sickle cell. my oldest sister magdalein succumbed to sickle cell.

the sister who i lost, i never met her. she died before i was born. death's on the way — sickle cell and just the way we live in our house, how it affected my parents, my sisters. i could say that that created, like, a kind of environment.

sickle cell has made me and my family stronger. but, as i prepare for the marathon, the warnings from my doctor keep playing on my mind. the doctors disagree with me about my doing the marathon. essentially, i will be reducing the oxygen circulating to my body, the functionality of my organs and risking things like strokes or neuroretinopathy or, like, something just obstructs somewhere and it'lljust collapse, and, yeah... as the day approaches, i'm excited and determined. emcee: ladies and gentlemen, wed like to welcome you to the 2018 nairobi standard chartered international marathon! i'm feeling good at the starting line.

the adrenaline kicks in and i'm all set. cheering and applause. starter's gun fires. cheering and applause continues. after 2km, my body starts to give out. the sun is so hot, my breathing becomes laboured. ifeel like i'm chained to a boiler. man, i have to keep going! my brother and friend both rush to support me. but i can't give up now. i have to reach the end.

i tapped into my energy deep down. and somehow managed to push through. but as i crossed the finish line, my body simply gave out. i felt faint. ijust could not catch my breath. this was everything my doctor and friends had warned me about. the end of the marathon was scary and could've cost me my life.

but it showed me that once i set my mind on something, there's nothing on earth that can stop me. i head back to taveta with an renewed energy! i'm determined to get sickle cell patients and families the support they deserve. and i decide to confront our member of county assembly. the governor promises his support and i speak to as many officials

as i can, hoping to drum up support for a specialist centre. thank you so much, mama. finally, after years of advocating, a special clinic for sickle cell patients in taveta is unveiled. all the battles, all the obstacles — finally, we are here.

having a sickle cell clinic in taita—taveta is not easily done. having you of all come together for the entire country is not a force to joke with and... applause. having passed through this trouble with us, now fearless, these people here show me that we are not alone, i am not alone, we are not walking alone, we are creating this path. however long it will take, however hard the struggle, the lives lost — maybe some of us will not be here to see the future — but we must walk. 0k? thank you so much. applause.

for me, this new clinic isjust the beginning of my mission to improve the lives of all sickle cell patients and families notjust in kenya, but all over africa. we're just getting started. this is not a marathon. it is — it is not the one who — who is the — who is the winner, who runs the farthest or who runs the fastest will win. this is a relay race. and me, i know that — i realise that this problem, i will not solve its entirety in my lifetime and the person coming after me will be — you know, will have it easier and be able to take it even further. it's a beautiful morning in taveta,

kenya, and we are doing 10km to holili with my mum — she's right ahead, she's a rummer — to holili with my mum — she's right ahead, she's a runner — and, yes, so we'll be doing ten, ten, so 20km today, so i'm so excited, guys! look at that sunrise! so, it has been a rainy experience. chuckles. we are all wet! wet! 0ur brother here, it's like he was dipped in water! in a swimming pool! 0h! neverfelt so much rain in my life, and that was an amazing experience! and, yeah, so tired.

we've just finally finished 10km. now, we are doing ten more. hello. plenty of spells of sunshine through the rest of your sunday afternoon, into the evening too. we do have a few showers around, mainly across the northern half of the uk. so, further south, that is where you have the longer spells of dry and sunny weather,

but a fairly bright and breezy sort of day. noticeable wind coming in from a west or north—westerly direction. and, it is blowing around this area of low pressure, which isjust drifting slowly across scandinavia. drawn in on that atlantic air, we are seeing a few showers, particularly affecting scotland and northern ireland in the day. a few for northern england and north wales, further south—east, you are likely to stay dry, some late sunshine around today. more persistent rain and cloud just lingering across the far north of scotland for the likes of caithness and sutherland and 0rkney, too, but overnight, most places are relatively dry and clear. so, temperatures getting down into single figures for many northern areas in particular, as we head into the early hours of monday morning. a fresh start in the day, but quite a bit of sunshine around. from the word go. it is not going to stick around everywhere, because we have more showers on the way. this system here just drifting in from the west. initially, that will bring rain across parts of wales, i think the middle part of the morning will drift further eastward into england, through the course of the day. it will tend to fragment and become showery as it does so.

more rain to come across the north of scotland, with another weather front heading in there, too. sunny spells for many of us in between those showers. temperatures 13—20 degrees. a little bit below average for this stage injuly. monday is the first day of the championships at wimbledon. a lot of dry weather through the day, but as cloud thickens in the afternoon, there is a chance of some passing showers during the latter part of the afternoon. into tuesday, and it looks like the next area of low pressure will move and towards the southern parts of the uk. a little bit of uncertainty for tuesday on the detail of how far north any of that rain gets, perhaps south wales, much of southern england likely to see rain during the day on tuesday. sunshine and showers for the rest of the uk. so, an unsettled sort of day, and relatively cool for this stage in earlyjuly. 13—19 degrees our top temperatures on tuesday. a bit of a breeze around where you do see rain during the day on tuesday. looking unsettled, drier and brighter weather.

at the weekend, lou getting up to around 28 degrees in the london region.

live from london, this is bbc news. condemnation in france of an attempt to set fire to the home of a mayor — after a fifth night of rioting across the country. i'm rajini vaidyanathan live from l'hay—les—roses where the mayor's house was attacked last night. two dead and 28 injured, following a mass shooting in baltimore. a search for the shooter a search for the shooter is under way. is under way. seven new nhs gambling clinics seven new nhs gambling clinics to open in england — to open in england — almost double the current number. almost double the current number.

hello, i'm gareth barlow. thank you