Nigerian highlife singer and songwriter Adekunle Almoruf Kosoko, known professionally as Adekunle Gold, has opened up about sickle cell struggle while growing up.

AG Baby disclosed this in a letter to his fans, on Friday, July 15. He said “It feels liberating to finally be able to share this party of my life with you, to finally be able to share my truth.

“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 for me.

The 35-year-old singer said, he wasn’t able to join some of the most minor child play and liberating activists like going out in the rain.

“The pains and shivers were unbearable. They (crisis) always came in the night, when my family had no means to transport me to a hospital.

He noted that “The most intense crisis I had was at the age of 20, I remember laying in my bed in the middle of the night asking for an end to it all. I begged God to take my life because I could not understand what I did to deserve the pain my body and mind was under.

“As usual with sickle crisis after some days, the pain subsided, and God asked me; “That end you begged me for, do you still want it?” Of course I said no and that’s when everything changed for me. That was when I realised that I had been given another opportunity to live my dreams and show those that mocked me that sickle cell anemia was never going to end me, that it would never hold me back from my dreams and aspirations.

“Sickle cell anaemia gave me hope, made me tough, gave me the discipline I needed to be who I am today, built my character, he said it has been Grace all through.

AG Baby said he shared his testimony to encourage those who are passing through taught time too.

“I want to encourage you in whatever it is that you are going through, know that there’s hope. You are strong and you must not give up, you can do this, victory lies at the end for you, just as it did for me.”