Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold has revealed the challenges he faced after publicly discussing his battle with sickle cell disease.
The ‘Orente’ artist shared that he endured “attacks and abuse” online following his revelation.
In a recent CNN interview, Adekunle Gold explained that despite the initial backlash, he chose to raise awareness about sickle cell disease to empower others.
He emphasized his mission to create a supportive environment for individuals living with sickle cell, aiming to ensure they feel secure and understood.
He said, “I want people living with sickle cell to feel safe, to feel like they have help and support.
“They call you a sickler… Recently, when I talked about it [my struggle with sickle cell] on the song [‘5-star’], I saw a lot of tweets from people attacking and abusing me.
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“I’m speaking about sickle cell disease now because I just got the courage to come out and speak up openly about it. A lot of people can’t share their stories like I can.”
Adekunle Gold mentioned that he has been aware of his diagnosis since childhood, noting that during his upbringing, he frequently found himself in circumstances that exacerbated his illness.
“I’ve known about my sickle cell disease all my life. I knew since I was a child that I couldn’t do certain things. They said, ‘You know you have sickle cell, you can’t play football in the rain just like your peers.’ And I was like, ‘No, I want to play.’ I’ve always been rebellious,” he recalled.
“I’ve known about my sickle cell disease all my life because growing up, I had crises every time. I was in the hospital back-to-back.
“As a child, I constantly put myself in situations that made me sick. And it affected me a lot. For example, I’m not supposed to be in the rain, so what happened to me was that I would have pains in my joints from being in the rain. But I always knew that I didn’t want this thing [sickle cell] to define me.”
