Adedokun Waliyu 
Nigerian singer Adekunle Kosoko, popularly known as Adekunle Gold, has once again sent a message of hope to those living with Sickle cell anaemia.
Gold, diagnosed with the ailment at birth, paused his recent performance to address the sickle cell survivors and encourage them.
“Our sickle cell survivors, our warriors that are currently going through it. If I can do it, you can do it. I was born with sickle cell, I grew up with sickle cell, and all my life I fought with it. But I’m thankful that I was able to manage it. I don’t fall sick, I don’t know how that’s happened but I’m thankful,” he said.
He urged all survivors never to feel held back by their condition as he has had to deal with all the crisis and he is where he is today.
“This is me reaching out to everyone currently going through it, having to deal with the cramps and all the crises. It should never stop you, you know. Look at me, I’m a f***ing superstar now despite living with sickle cell. Nothing should stop you. ”
In 2022, he released a newsletter about his battle with sickle cell anaemia highlighting the restrictions he had during his childhood.
The newsletter in part read: “I lived with restrictions all my childhood. I couldn’t join some of the most minor childhood play and liberating activities like going out in the rain. The times when I insisted and rebelled against my parents’ orders and went out in the rain, I would end up having a crisis.
He said his condition took away his freedom, and his childhood, and it also made him lose a lot of friends who don’t understand what he was going through.
“Sickle cell disease took away my freedom, my childhood. 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,” he said.
