Disappointed throngs of music fans were wondering why singer August Alsina suddenly pulled out of the largest Black music festival in the world, the Essence Music Fest in New Orleans. But, now they know why.
Alsina, 26, spoke to his 6.2 million Instagram followers from his hospital bed and explained that an autoimmune disease has his body fighting against itself.
“So here’s the stitch,” said the New Orleans-born “Kissin’ on My Tattoos” singer. “I woke up one day and wasn’t able to walk. [I] couldn’t feel my legs. My doctor ended up admitting me to the hospital to do a bunch of tests and he said that I have some nerve damage going on throughout my whole body and that I have to undergo a recovery process for.”
“We’re doing a bunch of tests and they’re saying I have some nerve damage going on throughout my body,” Alsina explained. “It’s like my immune system went on vacation. So, I’m just waiting on it to come back and we can get together and it can do what it do, man.”
Alsina’s hospitalization today is related to his collapse on stage during a concert in 2014. Complex and Billboard magazines stated that Alsina revealed to close friend Jada Pinkett Smith that his illness is a hereditary condition, though he’s never gone into specifics.
“I take my career and your time very seriously and the fact that you guys show up for me, endlessly, means the world …” he wrote on Instagram.
Listen as Alsina explains his diagnosis and prognosis below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzqvJv9gfY6/?utm_source=ig_embed
