Cheryl Cole will make a malaria appeal on Sport Relief tonight (21.03.14).
‘The X Factor’ judge is urging viewers to give at least £5 in an effort to prevent the disease spreading further through Africa after she was diagnosed with the deadly condition – which is transmitted by mosquitoes – in July 2010 when she returned home from a trip to Tanzania.
Cheryl’s condition was so serious she was given just 24 hours to live by doctors if she didn’t respond to treatment.
In a video message, she explained: "When I climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief five years ago it was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
"The motivation lay in knowing it could help in eradicating malaria and ultimately saving lives by providing mosquito nets.
"I didn’t for one minute think that only a year later, I would get malaria myself and become so ill that, at one point, I was given 24 hours to live.
"It was the scariest thing you could ever imagine for me and for my friends and family. The pain I felt and went through, it’s what so many people go through, all because they don’t have a mosquito net which could save their life.
"I was lucky, I had the best care I could get. Some people are not so lucky. A £5 mosquito net could keep a child safe and really does help."
The 30-year-old star – whose lungs became filled with fluid, while her liver grew to three times its normal size while ill – is trying to reach out for help because the cause is "close to" her heart.
She added: "I’ve decided to speak out about this again now because, having experienced it, it’s obviously very close to my heart and I want people to know how easy it is to help."
Cheryl Cole makes malaria appeal for Sport Relief
