Hakeem Adeniji, the offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals, has announced the heartbreaking news of the stillbirth of his son just six days before his due date.
Adeniji took to Instagram sharing the news in a reel with his followers.
In the video, he said, “It was the worst moment of my life.” The offensive lineman added, “Everybody that knows me knows how bad I wanted to be a dad.”
Adeniji posted a carousel of images that included a shot of he and his wife, Kayla, an iPhone note, and an image of he and his son, whom the couple named, Semiu Zade Adeniji.
The iPhone note read: “It’s been a little over a week since we lost our boy. There’s been, anger, sadness, and emptiness. The fact that he is gone has set in now and nothing can change that. I’ll never get to see him grow up, and he’ll never get to read his journal I wrote for him. I miss him and l’ll miss him everyday for the rest of my life.”
Later in the message he concluded, “This will be hard, but that’s life. Always has been and probably always will be. We appreciate all the prayers, support and well wishes from everyone it is much appreciated. I still want to be a dad more than anything else in this world, and he gave me that even though it was short lived. When and if I ever get that opportunity again I’ll never take a day for granted. I love my boy and he will live through us.”
Kayla also posted her own carousel of images of herself, her husband, and son. In her post, she commented on her son’s “head full of curls” and said that he had “his daddy’s nose.” She concluded her text with asking her “angel,” to “please look out for us.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the stillbirth rate for Black women is nearly twice as high as that for white women in the United States. In 2019, the stillbirth rate for Black women was approximately 11.6 per 1,000 live births, compared to 5.6 per 1,000 live births for white women.
Photo: Kayla Adeniji Instagram; Hakeem Adeniji Instagram