How did it happen?
I don’t know what to say, but first of all, I want to give thanks to God. I was very sick. Before I went to the hospital, I attended a couple of shows. I wondered how I was able to perform at the shows because I was seriously ill.
My partner Obumneme Ali a.k.a Smash and I, had series of shows and in a situation where payment has been made, I had no option than to grace the stage. We decided to round off our shows late last year in order to enable me take care of my health in 2013. But unfortunately, up till January this year, we were still going for concerts. We even had to travel to Australia to stage a concert.
Then, I was visiting one of the
hospitals in Lagos, and that was where I was diagnosed. They carried out
all the medical examinations, and when the results came out, the
Haematologist advised me to seek for further treatment abroad.
If you have travelled to America or any
Schengen country within two years, you can apply for a Priority Visa and
we were qualified to do so. We applied and within four days, the visa
came out. We met a friend in the UK who introduced us to his brother who
is a Medical Doctor. He assisted us and we met a Haematologist who
advised that I should re-run all the tests again.
The only thing we didn’t do was the
surgery which I did back home before I was diagnosed of suffering from
blood cancer. After everything, they started with the treatment they
called “Bone Marrow”. It wasn’t an easy one, it was very difficult. I
thought I would loose all the blood in my body but thank God I survived
it. After a week, I started having complications, I had to return to the
hospital to have blood transfusion after which I felt better. We spent a
lot of money. At a point, I was hopeless and was only praying to God
for His mercies.
After the second chemotherapy, I started
exercising because the doctor advised me to do regular exercise.
However, it was after the third chemotherapy that the pictures I took
while in the hospital leaked. By then, I was already bouncing back to
life because I passed through the valley of the shadow of death. After
the fourth chemotherapy, we shot a video, “Temperature” in London .
I didn’t even know I could do that. I
initially thought the cycle would be six but before the fifth
chemotherapy, the doctor informed us that it was going to be eight. I
got confused at that point and even doubted what they were doing. I
thought they just wanted to milk me because it was expensive. My
manager, partner and Chief Executive Officer however encouraged me to
complete the treatment.
I was only going to the hospital, then
to the gymnasium and back to the house. After the seventh chemo, I was
told to do a Lumber Punch- they would have to inject my spine. It was
done after the fifth chemo and it was very painful. I thought I would be
paralysed. I was told the Lumber Punch was necessary to prevent the
disease from getting to the brain. At that point, our account was almost
in the red.
Luckily, a friend known as Ugonna came
to London during my third chemo and was moved when he heard that we had
accommodation problem. He later gave us some money to look for one.
Ugonna was the only person that assisted me financially apart from the
prayers and encouragement of my fans and the media. I did the Lumber
Punch and lost a lot of blood.
Two days after, I went to get another
chemo. When one undergoes chemo, it kills both the good and the bad
cells and flushes out all the blood in your system. So, you have to be
refreshing. Imagine losing so much blood after the Lumber Punch and
after the chemo. I was almost a dead person. My colour overnight. I
remembered what the doctor told me that cancer is not the problem but
the treatment.
After a week and a half, I started
exercising, taking juice and everything that would help build my blood
again. I was finally cleared from the hospital and I thank God for His
mercies. A lot of people came to our house to rejoice with us when we
returned to the country during the week. I want to thank them. The likes
of P-Square, Jimmy Jatt, Dammy Krane, KCee, Chidinma, Illbliss, JMartins and many others.
What kind of cancer did you have?
I had Lymphoma. It is a blood cancer. When I asked the doctor what caused the cancer of the blood, he said, nobody knows the cause for now. According to him, it’s like a situation where a dark complexion couple making a baby and the baby turns out to be an albino and if you are asked to explain why, you cannot tell.
I had Lymphoma. It is a blood cancer. When I asked the doctor what caused the cancer of the blood, he said, nobody knows the cause for now. According to him, it’s like a situation where a dark complexion couple making a baby and the baby turns out to be an albino and if you are asked to explain why, you cannot tell.
During the seven months of your ordeal, what kept you going?
What kept me going was God. Before I went for the treatment, I saw myself dying slowly. We got the visa and contacted the Medical Doctor that attended to us. It was no doubt the handiwork of God. This doctor handles only cancer related cases.My family, my manager, partner and CEO were there for me. We travelled together. They made sure I was well taken care of, while my ordeal lasted.
Interestingly, when the picture I took while in the hospital leaked, I was reading the outpour of love, prayers and soothing words from my fans. Some of them even said, they would die if I die. Then the press guys were there for me. They were keeping tabs of my progress and informing my fans duly. All of these, did a whole lot in keeping me going. That’s why I got the courage and I know that it has always been God, my family, the media and my fans.
What have you learnt from your experience?
I learnt that life is very precious. No matter what you do and wherever you are, don’t look down on anybody because you don’t know who will help you tomorrow. Another thing is that you don’t have to be scared of death. You have to face the challenge. Live a normal life. If you are scared of death, you will die. At a point, when I got very scared, the sickness came in full force, but when I started picking courage, it subsided and I recovered.
Culled from Vanguardngr.com
No comments:
Post a Comment