Amanda Benko | Intern UAB School of Education – CHHS
Tina Turner in 2018. Photo: FRANZISKA KRUG/GETTY
News of the death of Tina Turner broke the hearts of people worldwide. An inspiration to many, and a legend to all. “Turner was the first black artist and the first female artist to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone, according to the music publishing company BMG.” (Powell et al., 2023) The renowned singer and actress had been secretly battling illness. She had reportedly survived a stroke, kidney disease, and other conditions, such as intestinal cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 2016. A few days before her passing, Tina Turner warned her fans to look after themselves and listen to their bodies as she raised awareness of the common issue of kidney failure. In her social media post, Tina Turner wrote, “My kidneys are victims of me not realizing that my high blood pressure should have been treated with conventional medicine. I have put myself in great danger by refusing to face the reality that I need daily, lifelong therapy with medication. For far too long, I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion,” (Whitman, 2023). Turner had been suffering from a kidney disease before her 2016 cancer diagnosis.
One of the major causes of kidney failure is high blood pressure (Mirror, 2023). Despite knowing she had a problem with high blood pressure, Turner says she failed to treat it. Tina required daily medications to manage her blood pressure. However, she failed to implement medicine into her routine, believing that her body was an indestructible and invulnerable bastion. Despite the developing signs and symptoms, which she blamed on medications, Turner kept ignoring them, only to realize that her kidneys were entering their final stage. Turner’s kidneys had reached an irreversible stage since their functions had hit an all-time low due to the inconsistency in taking her medications. In 2017, her doctor advised her that she would need 9-month dialysis before undergoing a kidney transplant. One of the lessons we can learn from Turner’s final days is that we should not ignore the message our body is trying to communicate to us. Listen to Tina, and don’t be naïve about your health.
RIP Tina Turner – Thank you for all the years of entertainment and inspiration!
References
Gordon, L. (2023, May 24). Tina Turner said she put herself in “Great danger” weeks before her death. Mirror. https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/us-celebrity-news/tina-turners-emotional-last-post-30069740
Powell, T., Chowdhury, M., & Vera, A. (2023, May 25). Tina Turner dies at 83 – News and Tributes. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/entertainment/live-news/singer-tina-turner-death-news/index.html
Whitman, S. (2023, May 25). Tina Turner’s health: Her cancer battle, Stroke & Kidney Disease before she died. Hollywood Life. https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/tina-turner-health-5106537/
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