Dancing with the Stars contestant Aishah Akorede has said it was "the most terrifying thing ever" to talk about living with sickle cell disease on national television.
On Sunday night's show, the 25-year-old model and her pro partner Robert Rowiński impressed the judges with their African-inspired Samba dedicated to her mum Kemi, earning 31 points.
Akorede credited her mother as being the biggest influence in her life and a pillar of support as she has dealt with sickle cell disease throughout her life.
Speaking to press after the show, the model and former Miss Universe Ireland said that it's not something she usually speaks about, but that she hopes being open about her health condition will help others.
"It's not something I speak about, I don't tell people exactly what my illness is," she said. "There are a few reasons why, number one I don’t want people to look at me as my illness, I want people to look at me as Aishah who has done this, helped these people, supported these people...
"The second reason is that I don't have the exact same experience that other people with sickle cell have. I am lucky and blessed to have a high haemoglobin F, I’m getting a bit scientific now, but this usually presents in people from the Middle East but I’m African so it’s quite rare."
She continued: "There are people I know who have sickle cell who have passed away or who have to get bone marrow surgery because of how serious their health disorder has become.
"I have been lucky all these years, I’m not saying I don’t experience hard times, I do get painful episodes, I do struggle with breathing at times. And with my immune system, I have to be very careful of being sick because it can affect me very differently."
Akorede added: "Opening up on national TV is not an easy thing to do, I didn’t expect to do it to be honest, but I am happy that sharing my story is going to help people."
Watch Aishah Adoreke and Robert Rowiński dance a Samba in honour of her mum
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Adoreke said she is "really grateful" for her mother's support.
"Every single opportunity I get to give kudos to my mum because she is such a hard worker and she is so genuine, she is so supportive of everyone. She's a queen. She's an icon," she said.
"She has a lot of knowledge about the condition because she's a scientist, so if that means making my juices every day or checking if I've eaten, she does that. I'm really grateful for her."
Meanwhile, the model said she feels her confidence is growing as she progresses on the dancing competition.
"I feel a lot more in tune with my body in general. I'll be honest, I have a lot of insecurities," she said.
"There are different things that I’m insecure about so, but I do feel like I'm becoming more confident in myself and in my body, in everything.
"My self-esteem is growing a little bit. In terms of how much I have evolved, in so many different ways. Apparently I'm more muscular now, but mentally I feel like I’ve evolved too."
No elimination took place on Sunday's show, with Jack Woolley and his pro partner Alex Vladimirov topping the leaderboard to make them exempt from elimination next week.
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