NFL player Hakeem Adeniji and his wife, Kayla, are mourning the loss of their first child after son Semiu Zade was delivered stillborn.
The Cleveland Browns’ offensive tackle confirmed the news in an emotional video posted to Instagram last week. In it, he said Kayla had been rushed to the hospital Nov. 1 after being unable to “feel” the baby that evening.
“It was the worst moment of my life. Everybody that knows me knows how bad I wanted to be a dad,” he said, noting that Semiu Zade was delivered just six days before his due date. “It’s the worst pain in the world. I can’t describe it to anybody.”
Adeniji said he and Kayla were able to hold their son and, although the moment was brief, will “never forget him.”
“He’s going to live on in our hearts forever,” he added.
The video was Adeniji’s first Instagram post since May, when he and Kayla announced their pregnancy with a carousel of images showing the couple on the beach.
Kayla expressed her own grief in a similar post in which she confirmed Semiu Zade was delivered on Nov. 2, the day after she was admitted to the hospital.
“We had to say goodbye to the most perfect, beautiful boy I’ve ever seen,” she wrote alongside photos showing her and her husband in the delivery room. “He got us through so much this year and stayed so strong for us for so long. I will always remember holding him and smelling him. He was just perfect.”
On Saturday, Adeniji thanked his fans for their support in a lengthy note that appeared alongside photos of him and Kayla holding their son in a hospital bed.
“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,” he 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.”
“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,” he continued. “When and if I ever get that opportunity again I’ll never take a day for granted.”
Adeniji, a Texas native, and Kayla have been married since 2021.
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