Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Hakeem Adeniji shared news on social media that he and his wife Kayla Adeniji lost their son a week before his due date. In an emotional video, Hakeem explained that Kayla couldn’t feel their son moving so to be cautious, they went to the hospital for an ultrasound, which no longer showed a heartbeat.
They named their son Semiu Zade Adeniji and both the instant love they felt for him when they held him for the first time.
Hakeem called the stillbirth “the worst moment of my life”: “It’s the worst pain in the world. I can’t describe it to anybody.”
“I know everybody that knows me knows how bad I wanted to be … be a dad,” Hakeem added.
Wiping tears from his eyes, he reflected on the time he did get to spend with his son and emphasized that Semiu will always be remembered.
“We got to hold him. We got to spend some moments with him,” Hakeem said. “We’ll never forget him. We love him. He’s going to live on in our hearts forever.”
He thanked family and friends for being supportive and said “all we ask is for some prayers … this is very tough.”
Hakeem also shared insight to their journey to having a child, saying it’s been a long process with IVF and his son gave them hope for such a long time.
“We’re gonna get through this. It has been a journey but I know that he’s watching over us and he wants us to keep going, so we’re gonna do that. It’s going to be hard, there’s been some rough moments, but there’s been a lot of moments to be grateful for,” Hakeem said.
Kayla posted videos and photos and shared her story on social media as well, bringing to light something many mothers and couples have gone through.
“We had to say goodbye to the most perfect, beautiful boy I’ve ever seen. We will never ever be the same and we will never forget him,” she wrote on Instagram.
