Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold opens up on how he was verbally attacked online for opening up on his living with sickle cell disease.
In an interview with CNN Africa, the 'Rodo' crooner revealed that he was bullied online for exposing his medical condition. Adekunle Gold said he wanted to offer support to sickle cell carriers like him and raise awareness about the disease to the public. Adekunle Gold recalled constantly falling sick as a child and how he put himself in risky situations that made him sick.
Adekunle Gold said while growing up, he didn't allow the sickle cell disease to define him knowing fully well that he couldn't do most of the things his peers did such as playing football in the rain.
He said, "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. 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 to define me."