Singer Winnie Khumalo has found a new lease on life after her serious health scare last year.
Khumalo spent the entire month of September 2013 in hospital, for complications from ulcers she eventually believed would kill her.
Speaking to Drum magazine in her home in Protea Glenn, Soweto, the songbird said she was so sick that she at one point told her children, 22-year-old Thando and 18-year-old Rethabile, to take care of each other after she's gone.
The 40-year-old singer started experiencing chest pains in June, but mistakenly assumed she was suffering from heartburn and exacerbated her condition with over-the-counter medicine.
"I kept taking certain tablets for the pain. My grandmother used to give us these tablets when we were small so whenever I felt pain, I'd take them not knowing I was making my condition even worse," said the singer.
Khumalo was diagnosed with ulcers in August, but she didn't realise the seriousness of the situation until she collapsed at home and was rushed to hospital.
"Doctors found sores in my chest - they had spread all the way to my lips. I was pleading with God to give me a second chance," she explained.
And although she tried her utmost to remain positive, she says there was a point when she hit rock bottom.
"I'd hear voices, like children's voices ringing in my ears. I was convinced that my life was over. I had thrown in the towel," she painfully recalls.
Khumalo pulled through, though, and believes that her prayers were answered. She now takes better care of herself and focuses on eating healthier.
"I forgot who God was and I was living my life having forgotten who had brought me this far," she told the publication.
"I have made some terrible mistakes - getting pregnant at a very young age. But God gave me another chance to get my life back together.
"I used to be a size 40 but now I am size 36. I weighed 93kg and now I'm down to 80kg. I feel healthy. I know a lot of full-figured women say that they are comfortable in their own bodies but that's a lie. I've been there and I know how painful it is to be fat."
Winnie Khumalo burst onto the SA music scene at the tender age of 15, when she released her album 'Hey Laitie, Tshina Tshina'. She was introduced to the music industry by the legendary Brenda Fassie, for whom she was a backup singer, and has also worked with high-profile artists like Sipho Mbele, Brothers of Peace (B.O.P), Bongo Maffin, Zonke Dikana, and DJ Cleo.
Khumalo also had small roles in the SABC series 'Muvhango' and 'Mponeng', in which she played the role of a sangoma.