Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji is opening up about the difficult year he and his wife, Kayla Adeniji, have endured.
On Nov. 10, the professional football player took to Instagram to share a statement and photos of his son, who was stillborn.
“It’s been a little over a week since we lost our boy,” Adeniji began his statement. “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.”
Alongside the statement, Adeniji also shared a snippet of one of the journal entries he wrote for his son.
“Remember that life is a journey. You will have ups and downs throughout the journey, but just remember to always keep going,” he wrote.
“You will have good days, keep going. You will have had days, keep going. It’s not about what happens to you…”
As Adeniji continued in his statement, he wrote how much he will miss his son. “I’ll miss him everyday for the rest of my life.”
“Kayla and I want to remember him for all the happy times he gave us, and all the hard moments he got us through. As we continue with life, I don’t want anyone to treat me any different than before, or feel like they can’t say certain things around me,” Adeniji wrote.
“I still love kids and still want to (be) happy for all my friends in their good moments. I know my little soldier is up there watching us and giving us strength. Everyday that God continues to wake me up I will do right by him and make him proud.”
Adeniji knows the road ahead with be “hard, but that’s life,” he writes. “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.”
In a video shared earlier in November, Adeniji revealed things took a turn for them while he and his wife were on a date, six days before their due date.
Kayla shared that it had been several hours since she last felt their baby boy move and they sought a doctor’s advice shortly thereafter.
It was then that they learned their baby no longer had a heart beat. “It was the worst moment of my life.”
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