If you closed your eyes, made a wish and blew out some candles on your last birthday, Adonye Jaja can relate.
On his 40th birthday, he could only close one eye, as his right one was patched while he awaited surgery that evening to save his vision through the removal of an abscess that was putting extreme pressure on his eye socket.
And while he’d have to wait a few days to enjoy any birthday cake, he did have a big wish: relief from a year of mysterious and maddening health problems that had left him feeling rotten, struggling to breathe and now, fearing he might lose sight in his dominant eye.
“I was miserable,” said Adonye, now 42.
“I had bouts of what was diagnosed as asthma where I couldn’t get enough oxygen. I was on a nebulizer, steroids and inhalers; I was doing immunotherapy, getting shots and taking antibiotics. I had a cupboard full of medications and over-the-counter drugs that I called my personal ‘sick bay.’
“I was trying everything, and the doctors were trying everything, and nothing was working.”
And now, his ability to see was at risk.
The thought of losing vision would terrify anyone.
For Adonye, the stakes were particularly high since he relies on his eyes to make a living.
Renowned photographer travels the globe
Adonye is a professional wedding photographer who travels around Colorado, the U.S. and the world with his camera equipment and his unique vision. He has a distinct flair for finding the right composition, the precise lighting and the perfect setting to capture memories, moods and moments for couples on their special days.
Well known in the industry for producing photos that are fine art, and recognized by Harper’s Bazaar as one of the top wedding photographers in the world, Adonye’s talents are sought out by those wanting something a little different than the traditional wedding shots.
“I try to find little parts of day that are unique to a couple but aren’t common. I notice things other people don’t – something others might miss but that clients would appreciate. It’s a way to create a peaceful, fun and happy memory,” he explained.
“I don’t want it to be just pictures that anyone can take. I try to make art that fits who they are as a couple, and that could be shown as a stand-alone piece. That’s the highest compliment for me: that people who don’t even know anyone in the photo tell me, ‘I would put that on my wall.’”
First, he served his country through AmeriCorps, then he discovered eclectic passions for photography, fly fishing and swing dancing
Born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in Georgia and Kentucky, Adonye found himself in Denver in 2006 working as a young AmeriCorps member. The federal program provides volunteer opportunities around the country, and Adonye spent several busy years serving our country. He helped Hurricane Katrina victims rebuild after the 2005 flood, provided disaster relief assistance around the U.S. and served food in various urban soup kitchens.
Through a friend, he became interested in photography, and in 2009, he started his company, Adonye Jaja Photography. He has been taking pictures ever since, building up his clientele through word of mouth and an impressive portfolio.
“I think I like to shoot weddings, in particular, because I’m sappy,” Adonye said with a big smile. “I love ‘love.’ I also really like people, and once I started doing it, I was more ‘me’ than I had ever been before.”
Adonye has done wedding shoots from Canada to Mexico to the Great Wall of China, as well as many in the Colorado mountains, where he gets to enjoy another of his passions: fly fishing.
Since being introduced to the hobby five years ago, Adonye says he has become obsessed with the sport. It allows him to fiddle and fuss with tools such as his rod, reel, line and lure to catch and release fish in a similar way that he uses his camera lens and lights to get just the right shot. He also enjoys the serenity and beauty of a mountain river or stream.
His love of fly fishing is second only to his enthusiasm for swing dancing, and he is a popular member of the Metro Denver swing dance community, known for his teaching and mentoring. Swing dancing originated in Harlem in the 1920s and is most famous for the Lindy Hop, a dance which matches a swing jazz beat that became popular in the 1940s.
“It is a truly authentic response to American jazz music from Harlem. It’s great music, and it’s a good way to get you moving and interact with others in a fun subculture. It’s good, clean fun and a good time.”
Adonye faces health problems and breathing issues
All of Adonye’s pursuits – from dancing to fishing to photography – were overshadowed in 2021 when he was immersed in a serious and prolonged health struggle. What started out as a mild cold turned into a 12-month ordeal when his life was punctuated with bouts of wheezing and shortness of breath so severe he was in and out of the ER, as medical staff tried to pinpoint a cause.
“I started to have a cough and then post-nasal drip. I tried lots of meds and went to an ENT and other doctors, and they were all trying to figure it out. Was it allergies? An infection? No one knew.”
He was told he was allergic to “almost everything” and started immunotherapy treatments. He was also told he had allergy-induced asthma and began using inhalers and medication. Nebulizers, steroids, antibiotics and OTC drugs were part of his daily and nightly regimen.
“Everything was mitigating it, but nothing was solving it,” he said.
He couldn’t dance and was having trouble sleeping. Plus, the litany of medications was taking a toll on his physical and emotional wellbeing. He was trying to stay positive and continued his quest to root out the source of his problems, but he wasn’t getting many answers.
Finally, in August 2022, his good friend Adrian Reynolds accompanied him to an ENT visit and advocated for him to get a CT scan. At this point, Adonye was having headaches and pain behind his right eye.
Reynolds, a nurse at UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital, met Adonye while swing dancing in 2012, and he has been one of her “nearest and dearest friends ever since.”
“He is so grounded and so kind,” she said. “The man is phenomenal. He is a leader in the swing dance community where he is welcoming to everyone and such a great facilitator. He’s so willing to celebrate other people’s accomplishments.”
She noticed him out of breath and struggling for air during swing dance events and was worried that his polite demeanor and laid-back style at medical appointments were deterrents to him gaining traction on the cause of his ailment.
He got some answers when two CT scans found a large abscess in his sinuses – a sure sign that something was wrong. Our sinuses are located between the eyes, the cheeks and the forehead.
When clinicians review a CT scan of this area, in general, they look for:
- Bone showing up as white.
- Air appears black (which is how healthy sinuses should appear since the cavities should be filled with air free of obstruction).
But Adonye’s sinuses showed up as cloudy and gray. What was this abscess causing him so much trouble?
A medical crisis in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Unfortunately, before he could follow up with more medical care, a wedding event in Jackson Hole was on his schedule for the next day. He made the trip to Wyoming and in the hours before the rehearsal dinner, he tried to get his mind off his pain and worry with some fly fishing in the Gros Ventre River.
“I’m fishing, and I have this horrible headache, and I realize I can’t fish anymore, which is a big thing for me to say. My head is hurting so bad.”
A nap in his hotel didn’t relieve his symptoms, and when he woke up his condition had worsened. His right eye was so swollen it was protruding from its socket.
Friend and photography colleague Jeff Tidwell rushed him to the local hospital, where another CT scan of Adonye’s right eye socket and surrounding area showed an abscess so alarming that the attending physician warned him he was in danger of losing his eye unless he got emergency surgery.
“My livelihood is photography, and they’re telling me I’m going to lose my eye,” Adonye remembered.
With the help of Tidwell and other friends who took over wedding photography duties, Adonye boarded a medical plane that transported him to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, where the doctors in Jackson Hole felt he would get the best care.
“I was worried about him that whole weekend, and I was so happy he was getting help,” Tidwell said.
Later, to thank his friend for taking over the photography duties that weekend, Adonye surprised Tidwell with a vintage camera from London.
“He’s so thoughtful,” Tidwell said. “He’s very well-known in the photography community and yet he’s humble and unassuming.”
Adonye’s sister, Ibikiri Benson-Jaja, agreed that behind her brother’s stoic exterior is a man with a big heart: “He loves hard and cares deeply for those people around him. He’s a phenomenal photographer whose humility sometimes masks the success he’s had in his field.”
Back in Denver, awaiting eye surgery
Meanwhile, when Adonye arrived in Denver, he was placed on antibiotics and his infected eye was patched. At this point, he was experiencing double vision as well.
After a few days of trying to fight his infection through intravenous drugs, his UCHealth care team determined that he needed surgery.
During the four-hour operation, Dr. Ashoke (“Ash”) Khanwalkar, UCHealth ear, nose and throat specialist, opened up Adonye’s sinus cavities and removed diseased and swollen tissue, polyps, mucus and other debris that had become trapped there. The sinuses under his right cheek had been under such severe pressure that the bone was exposed, and the infection had pushed against his eye socket.
The culprit was a rare and incredibly advanced case of chronic sinusitis, coupled with allergies and asthma. The sinus infection had produced an inordinate amount of mucus over many months that had become trapped inside Adonye’s sinuses.
Khanwalkar believes that Adonye’s body likely reacted to allergies (possibly to fungus) by producing numerous nasal polyps that clogged his sinus cavities. The longer the area was clogged, the greater the infection grew, and it began to infect the surrounding tissue.
To make matters worse, with no escape route for the sinuses to drain because the polyps were obstructing any exit through his nose or mouth, the material had pushed into the path of least resistance, which in Adonye’s case was his right eye.
“For it to become this bad can be very frightening and painful for the patient,” said Khanwalkar, also an assistant professor of otolaryngology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Why does chronic sinusitis develop?
“We don’t yet fully understand all the details of the development of chronic sinusitis,” Khanwalkar said. “It’s an inflammatory process of the sinus and nasal airways, perhaps initially triggered as an aberrant reaction to certain antigens when the lining breaks down, for example, during a viral infection. For some people, this transitions from an acute infection to a self-sustained inflammatory process.
“For someone who is a photographer, it was very meaningful being able to help him and address a chronic condition that, if left unchecked, could have affected his quality of life, his vision and his livelihood,” Khanwalkar said.
Adonye felt sinus relief immediately after the surgery, although his double vision lasted about a month or so. But he is not cured. The surgery was a “reset” as it cleared out polyps and other debris and created a wider passageway in his sinuses so they will flush easier. His condition is chronic and during the past two years, he uses anti-inflammatory injections twice monthly to manage his body’s inflammatory drive.
“Not only did UCHealth save my eye, but I feel great and back to normal,” he said. “No more asthma attacks and no other issues.”
Birthday wishes for Adonye
Reflecting on his 40th birthday, when he lay in a hospital bed waiting for surgery, Adonye said he realized the importance of supportive friends and family in both his personal and professional life.
“I’m always under a lot of pressure, much of it self-induced, to create, and create with my right eye. All of that, compounded with the emotional pressure of what I was going through and thinking my career could end … That was a lot.”
As a surprise for him that day, UCHealth nurses put up birthday banners for him, and out-of-town family members, in town for what they thought would be his 40th birthday celebration, showed up in his hospital room instead praying for his recovery. Friends from his church and swing dance communities arrived as well.
His response? After surgery, he climbed out of bed and, in his hospital gown, performed a quick, albeit slow “swingout,” or iconic Lindy Hop move, to mark the day. He would host a pig roast a week or so later at a belated party that celebrated his birthday and a whole lot more.
“His birthday celebration was lit!” said his sister Ibikiri. “The place was packed with his friends, and our whole family flew in. It was so much fun. It was amazing to see that even in the face of less-than-ideal circumstances and the pain, he chose to not dwell on his current state, but to celebrate his life, eyepatch and all!
“His friends rallied around and pitched in to make the night a success. There was a whole roasted pig, tacos with tortillas made from scratch, desserts, lots of tears, lots of dancing and lots of laughter. You could really feel the love.”
The support from his friends and family is not lost on Adonye.
“When I was in the hospital and visiting hours were over, I had dreams visualizing what I wanted to do in the future and what I wanted my work to look like moving forward. I have grown my business since then, but I haven’t done it alone. I have my friends to lean in a wonderful artistic community. I had the ability to dream where I wanted my work to go, and I’m excited to see that coming to fruition.”