The Enugu state governor spoke to journalists in
Enugu on Monday. Below is what he shared...
.
"Late August or early September, last year, I
am not sure again of the dates, but it is about
that time. I was privileged to be one of those
nominated by the Nigeria Governors Forum to
go to Germany to understudy their federal
system. A Governor was picked from each of
the six geo-political zones. I represented the
South-East and of course, we were led by our
Chairman, Rotimi Amaechi.
.
"On our way to Germany, I decided to go a little
bit earlier, passing through London to do my
medicals because of what I will call lack of our
time. We do not have time here. So, I decided to
take that opportunity, got to London and did
my medicals and was certified fit. I was given a
clean bill of health. But I had a little growth
here (pointing at the right side of his neck) that
was not visible to anybody. I am a very
observant person. I noticed it, showed it to my
doctor and he touched it and said he didn't feel
it is anything serious, that I should just try and
forget it.
.
"So, I thought they would have seen anything if
there was anything wrong when they were doing
the general scanning and screening, but nothing
was found. So, I just singled it and said, please,
this particular thing, I will like it to be investigated.
I was referred to GB who after examining me and
asking me questions, because I told him, no
symptoms, no pains, no discomfort from anywhere.
He said as far as he was concerned, there was
nothing wrong but as a professional advised me to
investigate it further because I was almost running
out of time, short of time.
.
"I made arrangements with them to help me set up
appointments for closer examination of the growth.
So the next day I left for Germany to join my
colleagues. On that trip was my Commissioner for
Commerce and Industry, Dr. Jude Akubuilo and my
SSA Investment. They were already in Germany
waiting for me and so, I joined them. At the end of
the day, about a week after they had set up the
arrangement, I left Germany. I left my colleagues. I
told them where I was going, went back to London
and did the proper screening of that particular
growth. They did biopsies and all that. So, in the
process it was discovered that it was cancerous.
The growth was cancerous."
.
"Further investigation revealed that the main
tumour, because this actually turned out to be the
lymph node, but the main tumour was behind my
nose. It actually turned out to be what they called
nasopharyngeal cancer- that is cancer of the nose.
At that stage when you hear cancer, you will
declare yourself dead before any further
examination. Then I asked them what should be
done, they told me straight away that they will
subject me to further screening to know if it had
spread. So luckily it hadn't spread, it is just only in
those two places.
.
"They said the good news is that it was curable and
not manageable. It was curable, that was when I
became interested. And they said as soon as I was
ready, they would commence treatment. Originally
we had planned to go from Germany to Lebanon on
our way back to Nigeria but I cancelled that trip,
went back to Germany, informed my people I went
with, came down to London with the
Commissioner. The SSA hadn't UK Visa then, so he
traveled back to Nigeria from Germany. In London
we made arrangement and agreed on when to
come.
This cancer of a thing is becoming more deadly day by day all over the world. It is a terrible disease
What a story! Hope it has been cured?