Nollywood actress Kemi Afolabi has courageously opened up about her battle with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that had reached a critical point, leaving her convinced that her life was hanging in the balance. In a candid and emotional interview with Doyin Kukoyi TV, Afolabi recounted the depths of her health crisis, revealing the physical and emotional toll the illness had taken on her life, a journey so intense that she had to prepare for the worst.
The actress revealed that her health crisis was so severe that she couldn’t eat or drink, needed oxygen to breathe, and even prepared for the worst by buying a burial site and writing her will. Before her diagnosis, she knew little about lupus, but she soon learned it’s an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks its own organs, causing harm and damage.
She further shared that lupus had brought her excruciating joint pains, even more severe than childbirth, and led to a series of misdiagnoses at LUTH before she sought medical attention abroad, where she finally received an accurate diagnosis. Now aware that lupus is incurable, she manages her condition with daily medication and injections. Her treatment requires regular trips abroad, and she also has to limit her exposure to light, which has impacted her acting career.
In her words:
“When I was down with Lupus, I thought the end had come. I couldn’t eat or drink. I was using oxygen to breathe. I already bought where I would be buried, and I wrote my Will, but God said it was not yet time to go. I survived with the power of God, the support of my family, friends and colleagues. Lupus has killed a lot of people. I had never heard of it till I experienced it. It is an autoimmune disease that will cause your body’s system to work against itself. The organs will not function properly. When it first started with me, all the joints in my body gave me intense pain. Childbirth pain is a little compared to the pain of Lupus. They were diagnosing different diseases for me at LUTH until I travelled out and was told it’s Lupus. Lupus has no cure I am still managing it with medications. I travel abroad every now and then because of it. I get an injection every day. I can’t be under the light for a long time like I used to when acting. People were saying so many things but the one that got to me most was when someone said I have been used spiritually.”
Kemi Afolabi’s revelation aims to create awareness about lupus and its devastating impacts.
