Sarah Téibo
British-born of Nigerian descent, Sarah Téibo started leading worship in her early teens. Currently serving as a worship leader at Kings Church in London, she is one of the UK’s top female gospel music artists and worship leaders. Sarah has travelled extensively within the UK, Europe, Africa and Australia leading worship and working with other worship artists including Grammy-Award winning Gospel singer Fred Hammond, Philippa Hannah, Noel Robinson, Tim Godfrey, Charles Jenkins, Graham Kendrick and more recently, Lou Fellingham.
In April 2023, I got the devastating news that I had a cancerous tumor on my thyroid. The main symptom was a swelling on my neck, and though I was not in pain, initial scans by my doctor caused some alarm, which prompted further tests with specialists. Following this, it was confirmed that there was a tumor on my thyroid which was cancerous and needed to be removed via surgery.
This news came just as I was about to start working on my next studio project.
It felt like I’d just been punched in the throat when I was delivered the diagnosis. I am sure my heart sank to the floor of that hospital consultation room. Though I tried to keep a brave face as the doctor talked me through what to expect next and the risks that came with the procedure, I could not keep it together when I got home and immediately broke down in tears. It was just too much for me to process. Or to accept.
Being a very private person, when I received the diagnosis, my first instinct was to just process it within my own space. And I did this for several months before finally making a public statement about what I had been going through - particularly the aftermath of the surgery. One main reason I eventually decided to share my story, was so hopefully it could encourage anyone who might be
going through a similar experience.
My hope is that by sharing my testimony of navigating fear, faith, vulnerability and healing using songs from the EP ‘Human Like Me’, I would be able to encourage and inspire people who may be going through a challenging season in their lives.
The song ‘All clear’ which is the very first track on the EP starts off with 4 words - ‘it’s gonna be ok.. ’
More people need to hear this.
Faith played a huge part in helping me process this phase of my life alongside my family. Though I struggled with the diagnosis and initially even rejected it, I remember going to God and just asking Him ‘why?! ’I was broken, in despair and very open with my heavenly Father. It was in this place of vulnerability that God comforted and reminded me - if I never had a sickness, I would never know Him to be my healer and if I never felt broken, I would never experience Him as my
comforter.
Sometimes as Christians, we want to go through life without any challenges, but it is through challenges that we put our faith to the test, and prove that God is truly who He says He is.
As I continued to navigate what this could mean for my future as a singer, I took a step of faith and attended the songwriting sessions my team had booked for May 2023. This was within just three weeks of major surgery and I went in to the sessions with dressing from surgery still on my neck! I could barely produce coherent sounds. I don’t know how I got through it, but somehow I did!
Through this whole experience, my biggest fear was the possibility of losing my voice. This is something that was pointed out to me before I even went into surgery. It turned out that after surgery, I did have mild vocal paresis which meant part of my vocal cord was mildly paralysed,
resulting in the need for me to have vocal rehab to regain the strength in my vocal cords and essentially learn to sing again.
The thought of possibly never being able to sing with my signature power and pitch was quite terrifying, but I held on to a promise in Isaiah 40 verse 29 where God promised to give ‘strength to the weary, and increase the power of the weak’.
I declared those words over my vocal cords whilst working diligently through vocal therapy. I retell the story of this particular phase of my recovery journey on ‘I Believe’, the third track of the EP. It was a great relief to get the ‘all clear ’after surgery! I genuinely feel privileged that my story did not end a different way. Following the completion of my vocal therapy, I have a renewed appreciation for my voice and I now have a new outlook to life in general and my new motto is ‘seize every moment’. This experience also reminded me of how gracious and truly merciful God is - even in moments when we seem to lose our faith, He remains faithful to humans like us.
Sarah Téibo | Human Like Me
Lead “Human Like Me” with your congregation