Toni Braxton feels lucky to be alive after coming close to a "massive heart attack".
Toni Braxton has lupus
The 55-year-old singer - who was diagnosed with autoimmune condition lupus in 2008 - dismissed the chest pains she began suffering with last year, attributing them to grief over the death of her sister, so kept postponing a medical appointment.
She said on 'Today With Hoda and Jenna': "I had some pain in my chest.
"But I was having this pain in my chest and I thought it was because I was so sad, we had just lost one of my sisters."
The 'Unbreak My Heart' singer eventually went to her appointment, and was shocked after undergoing tests, which showed a problem with the main artery in her heart.
She said: "I was told that I would have had a massive heart attack. And I wouldn't have survived.
"Even sometimes when I talk about it, I get a little emotional about it.
"Because I feel so fortunate and so blessed. And I was not going to go to that appointment. You put things off, 'I'll do it tomorrow. Everything's OK. I'm sure I'm fine.' "
The tests also saw Toni's kidneys were having trouble because of her lupus.
She said: "Having SLE, so it can attack any organ in my body. Now it's starting to affect my kidneys.
"I'm here to talk about it, 'cause had I not did that appointment, I would not be here today talking to you guys. So I want to educate people about that."
The Grammy-award winning star admitted she sometimes "gets sad" over her health issues but she tries to be optimistic.
She said: "Some days I do get sad. I'm not gonna lie ... some days I'm sad, but there are good and bad days. And I always try to think of the glass half full ... always a silver lining."
Though Toni is thankful she "can still sing", she is no longer able to tour the way she used to.
She said: "I know I'll never be able to do shows seven days a week again, five to seven days.
"I love performing, that's my favorite thing to do, but I can do one-offs. I can do shows here and there."
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