Hakeem Adeniji, an offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns, shared the heartbreaking loss of his child a week before the boy's due date.
In a tearful video posted Nov. 4 on Instagram, Adeniji, 26, called the loss "the worst moment of my life."
"I know everybody that knows me knows how bad I wanted to ... be a dad," he said.
He said his wife, Kayla, went to the hospital when she couldn't feel their son moving. An ultrasound confirmed the stillbirth six days before the boy’s due date, Adeniji said.
"We got to hold him. We got to spend some moments with him. ... We’ll never forget him. We love him. He’s going to live on in our hearts forever,” he said.
Kayla Adeniji said in an emotional post on Instagram that she was in love with her beautiful son from the moment she held him.
“Until I can hold your hand again son, I love you,” she wrote.
Adeniji said his wife became pregnant through a "long process" of in vitro fertilization.
He said he and his wife will make it through this dark period.
“I know that he’s watching over us, and he wants us to keep going,” Adeniji said.
Adeniji was drafted in the sixth round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 and was signed by the Browns as an unrestricted free agent in March, according to the team.
