Famous afrobeats star, Adekunle Kosoko, famously known as Adekunle Gold, opened up about his struggle with sickle cell anemia in a recent Instagram post with a snippet of his new song “5 Star”. Although the news may come as a shock to the world, the Nigerian singer has been dealing with the disease, which became so painful he would beg God for mercy, since birth. Now he is thankful that he was able to power through the crises.
In a newsletter on ‘The Truth’, Gold shared what it was like growing up as a child with sickle cell disease in an effort to inspire others going through physical health or mental health struggles in life.
RELATED: What Every Sickle Cell Warrior Must Know About Their Patient Journey
Growing up with sickle cell
“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, 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,” Gold wrote.
Because many people didn’t understand the nature of the disease and why he had to follow strict restrictions and rules, much of his freedom and childhood was taken away from him.
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Gold recalls not being able to participate in minor activities that children his age were able to such as going out in the rain.
“I lost friends, a lot of them. Some didn’t understand the restrictions and rules I had to live by, some just didn’t want to deal with my Illness or thought it was a nasty or contagious disease that they could catch. I was a burden for some. Living with sickle cell is far from living a normal life,” Gold continued.
Some nights Gold would rebel against his parent’s orders and go out into the rain anyway, which resulted in a painful wake-up call of why his parents enforced the rules in the first place.
“The times when I insisted and rebelled against my parent’s orders and went out in the rain, I would end up having a crisis. The nights were painful and lonely, nights that no one could help me get through. It was just me, God, and my mind. The pains and shivers were unbearable,” the “Orente” singer shared.
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With no means to be transported to the hospital or pay for hospital bills, Gold had no choice but to
