Céline Dion.Photo: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Image
Céline Dionis staying thankful.
On Friday, the five-time Grammy winner expressed her gratitude for birthday wishes as she turned 55 — a little more than three months after revealing her diagnosis with stiff-person syndrome.
“I felt this giant wave of love,” the vocal powerhouse shared on her Instagram Story, “thanks to everyone for the birthday messages!”
Celine Dion’s Instagram Story.Celine Dion/Instagram
Elsewhere, Dion’s official account uploaded a sweet video featuring several heartfelt family memories and birthday moments, encouraging fans to extend their love to the star.
Dion also shared aclip from her cast mates onLove Again— Sam Heughan andPriyanka Chopra— as they called her birthday “one of the biggest days of the year.” Dion is set to star in the upcoming rom-com as a fictionalized version of herself, as she helps a journalist assigned to profiling her to find love.
“Just like our movie, you are a real-life fairy godmother,” Chopra shared, to which Heughan added, “Thank you for giving the world your love and your music.”
Dion’s birthday arrives shortly after her revelation of stiff-person syndrome, a rare and incurable neurological disease that can cause debilitating muscle spasms. Sharing the news in an Instagram clip, Dion said her condition would force her to postpone and cancel a series of upcoming concert dates.
“I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time, and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and to talk about everything that I’ve been going through,” she wrote in the caption of the post. “It hurts me to tell you that I won’t be ready to restart my tour in Europe in February.”
Céline Dion.James Devaney/GC Images
TheStiff Person Syndrome Foundationnotes that Dion’s condition affects the central nervous system, specifically the brain and spinal cord. It can leave patients “disabled, wheelchair-bound or bed-ridden, unable to work and care for themselves,” per the foundation, which adds that the neurological disease with autoimmune features can include “hyper-rigidity, debilitating pain, chronic anxiety,” and muscle spasms “so violent they can dislocate joints and even break bones.”
Dion revealed at the time that her spasms can cause “difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to.”
“Take care of yourselves. Be well. I love you guys so much and I really hope I can see you again real soon,” she concluded at the time. “Thank you.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
source: people.com
