Nigerian singer/songwriter Adekunle Gold has come out to reveal his health struggles with sickle cell anemia.
He revealed this in a lengthy newsletter titled ‘My Truth’ where he shared with his fans on how he begged God to take his life when he was twenty years old, amongst other things.
“I Begged God To Take My Life” Adekunle Gold Opens Up About Sickle Cell Struggles
Adekunle Gold wrote, “It feels liberating to finally be able to share this part of my life with you, to finally be able to speak my truth.
When I talk about how I struggled to get to where I am today, I need you to know that my struggle was real. I was born with sickle cell disease. It was life and death, it was physical, mental, and financial, you name it and I went through it all.
It was tough, painful and frustrating. I lived with a sickness no one around me understood. I lived with restrictions all my childhood.”
He also recounted how he was deprived of the fun parts of childhood because of the illness, and how and how his poor family could hardly afford to take care of his hospital bills.
He continued, “One of the most intense crises I had was at the age of 20, I remember laying in my bed in the middle of the night asking for an end to it all.
I begged God to take my life away because I couldn’t understand what I did to deserve the pain my body and mind was under. As usual with sickle cell after some days, the pain subsided and God asked me; “that end you begged me for, do you still want it?”
“Of course, I said no and that’s when everything changed for me. That’s when I realized that I had been given another opportunity to live my dreams and to show those that mocked me that sickle cell anemia was never going to end me; that it was never going to hold me back from my dreams and aspirations.”
He added that though his body still caves in once in a while, he’s a lot better than before and especially grateful for sound health despite being on tour for five weeks and performing back to back in different cities.
Adekunle Gold continued, “I’m sharing my testimony with you because I hope that you can find strength in my truth. Some ailments hold us back but I’m thankful this hasn’t.
I want to encourage you in whatever it is you’re going through, know that there is hope. You are strong and you must not give up. You can do this. Victory lies at the end for you just as it did for me.”
Writing about the sickle cell disease, he wrote, “If you know anyone going through any struggle, physical, health, mental, be kind!
Show compassion! In fact, be kind to everyone, you just never know what they are dealing with privately.
Be supportive, be gentle and love endlessly. If you are a sickler, know that the disease does not define you.
Don’t allow it to limit your dream or cap your potential. Spread your wings and dream big! Hope to see you soaring the big skies.”
See the video below!
