South African singer Holly Rey is opening up about her brave journey of living with a chronic illness. Holly, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at just 11 years old, has been facing serious health challenges in the past few months.
Since December, she has been in and out of hospital after experiencing kidney failure, anaemia (a condition where you lack enough healthy red blood cells), and high blood pressure. On top of that, she had to make big lifestyle changes, like becoming vegetarian for health reasons and going on an insulin pump to help manage her diabetes.
Despite all these struggles, Holly has found a new meaning of strength — and she’s sharing her powerful journey with fans.
In an emotional post, Holly wrote:
“Strength?! The other day somebody said to me, ‘you’re so strong’ and I immediately responded with, ‘I really am not’ cause I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried and felt overwhelmed and like I want to give up.”
She explained that she had been thinking deeply about what it really means to be strong.
“Is it being a fighter everyday? Is it doing better than everyone else? Is it doing better each day and getting better at something each day? Is it not letting anybody see when you are struggling and not showing ‘weakness’? And I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s none of these things.”
For Holly, strength is not about being perfect or hiding your struggles. It’s about waking up and trying your best every single day.
“Strength is waking up each day and making a choice to do YOUR best. To wake up and try,” she said.
The last three months have been a tough journey for her.
“Kidney failure, anaemia, high BP, going on the pump, becoming vegetarian for health reasons, learning new things about my body and how to help my body heal — it’s been a lot. I’ve found that waking up each day and dealing with what I can or with what I have capacity for has been the only way to deal with everything. Taking bite-sized chunks rather than trying to deal with everything at the same time.”
Holly also shared what her strength looks like on a daily basis.
“Some days that looks like doing multiple tasks and some days it looks like just being able to shower. But the biggest achievement is that I wake up and make the effort to try my best,” she added.
She ended her message by giving hope to others who may be struggling:
“Some days are good and some days are bad but slowly the bad days get fewer and the good days come around more often. So no matter what you are going through and no matter how hopeless or weak you feel, this is just a reminder that your choice to wake up every day and try YOUR best is your strength.”
