Afrobeats singer Adekunle Gold has shared his ongoing struggle with sickle cell disease, revealing that he continues to endure painful crises.
In an interview on the RealTalk podcast, he disclosed that he was diagnosed with the condition when he was around 5 or 7 years old, after his mother rushed him to the hospital during a severe episode of pain.
“The first time I noticed that I had it was the night I fell sick and my dad wasn’t home, and my mum put me on her back and we walked miles to the hospital. I don’t remember how old I was, maybe like 5 or 7,” he said.
“Unfortunately for me, my parents are sickle cell and they brought me to the world. The first time I ever heard of sickle cell was I would fall sick every time with my joints paining me. So when we talk about crisis, it is pains on your joints, my legs and sometimes stomach. It’s really crazy,” he continued.
He said: “That was when the doctor told me about it, and they told me that I will be taking folic acid and B complex for the rest of my life. And that’s my life for a very long time even till now”.
“I still have crises once in a while but not as bad as I had it when I was a child, you know maybe because I have found a way to take care of myself more properly. And I’m grateful to God for the resources to be able to do that,” he stated.
“Where sickle cell is more popular or where people know it most is my country Nigeria. And it happens when an SS matches an SS. And that’s why knowing your genotype is very important because the point is you should not bring many more kids that have sickle cell”, he said.
“My vision is to make more noise about it because a lot of people don’t know about it, and the important organisations are not making so much moves regarding it,” he concluded.
