Kanya King CBE, the founder of MOBO Awards, delivered a moving speech about “gratification” in the midst of her battle with cancer that left the audience ecstatic.
MP Dawn Butler introduced her to the stage on Tuesday night, with Kanya thanking the audience before she said: “I feel something profound, gratitude. As Dawn]Butler] mentioned, there was a time I didn’t think I’d make it to the stage but I never allowed someone to define my limits. Not in life, not in business”.
She added: “And I’m certainly not going to have that happen now. For nearly three decades, I put everything on the line to build this platform. Never just about music was MOBO. It was about justice, it was about recognition. It was about altering a sector that had previously rejected us.
” We have broken down barriers, we have changed the game. Because we never accepted the phrase “no” as the definitive response, MOBO is here. My story isn’t over, this is a new chapter. A chapter where my voice, platform, and fight concern something that is just as important as music. Let me tell you something: I want to educate others because I wouldn’t be here right now and in my cancer journey if I ignored the symptoms. That’s why MOBO is taking a stand. The official 2025 MOBO Awards partner, Prostate Cancer UK, is a wonderful honor for me.
The audience was clearly emotional as Kanya delivered a powerful speech, according to a witness at the awards show. As she described her battle with cancer, the atmosphere changed. The crowd may have been grooving in the wake of dawn, but there was a depressing feeling as the reality became clear that she was almost certainly not there.
She stated to her followers in December that her cancer diagnosis had “given her a renewed sense of purpose” and that her “faith continues to be my anchor.” Kanya wrote to her followers:” Learning I have stage 4 bowel cancer was something I never saw coming. It’s a club I never wanted to join, and yet here I am, still processing this unexpected reality.
“This diagnosis has put me to the test in ways I never anticipated,” said the doctor, who also gave me a sense of purpose. Life isn’t just about how long you live, it’s about how deeply you live. I want to use my platform to highlight the value of health equity and help others who are struggling with chronic illnesses continue to advance. My faith remains my anchor, and I believe this chapter will be one of growth, resilience, and service”.
In the video, she said she ‘ joined a club nobody wants to join’. The activist claimed that the activist had been “testing her” and that she was “still processing it.” She claimed that she had overcame many obstacles in her life, and that the diagnosis will be “another obstacle” to her. Be proactive in your own health, Kya said, and to get checked.
In the 1990s, Kanya founded the MOBOs by remortgaging her apartment to finance the first one. She persuaded Carlton TV to air the event on November 21, 1996 after booking all of the actors for a six-week period.
For more information or support about bowel cancer, you can contact Macmillan Cancer Support or you can call 020 7940 1760 for advice.
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Source: Mirror
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