Why I begged God to take my life — Singer Adekunle Gold

35-year-old Nigerian singer and songwriter Adekunle Gold disclosed why he begged God to take his life when he was 20.

In a letter to his fans on Friday, July 15, the father-of-one said, “I was born with sickle cell disease.
It was life and death, physical, mental, and financial, and I went through it all. It was challenging, painful and frustrating. I lived with a sickness no one around me understood; I lived with restrictions all my childhood.

The nights were painful and lonely, nights that no one could help me get through. It was just me, God and my mind. The pains and shivers were unbearable. They always came at night, when my family had no means to transport me to a hospital. We couldn’t afford the constant hospital bills, so I had no choice but to endure the pain. Living with sickle cell is far from living everyday life. One of the most intense crises I had was at the age of 20, and I remember lying in my bed in the middle of the night, asking for an end to it all.

I begged God to take my life away because I couldn’t understand what I did to deserve the pain my body and mind were 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.