By Toby Prince
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has revealed that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Soyinka made this known in an interview with BBC Life Clinic’s Charles Mgbolu at his Ogun State home.
He revealed that he was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer in 2014 when he went for a routine medical check-up.
“It hadn’t yet gotten to the stage where it was non-reversible and so (the doctor) gave us a number of guidelines. I say us because he wanted to make sure that my wife made sure that I followed it. He sensed that I wasn’t going to be a very good patient. So he spoke to her most of the time rather than me,” he said.
The professor of English used an advanced technology known as proton therapy, which is said to be unavailable yet in Nigeria, to treat the disease.
Soyinka queried the reason why people go outside the country “to receive the kind of treatment which is affordable in this nation.”
According to the BBC, 13,000 cases of prostate cancer were reported in Nigeria in 2018.
The 85-year-old, however, said that the treatment for him was an ‘easy ride’.
He added: “I don’t go to the gym and I do not jog. I look at people who are jogging on the streets, some of them should go and jog behind walls. They look ridiculous. But I believe that my normal active life is more than sufficient. At least if I feel sluggish, I take a walk. If I feel very, very sluggish, I take my gun and go in the bush and go hunting.”
Support our journalism with a contribution of any size
Nigeria's media space is swamped with falsehood, deceit and delusion. Just a handful abides by the truth. TheNigerian is one of the unique platforms helping to shape the global narrative about Nigeria and her citizens across the world. It's quite costly to maintain this brand of journalism, however.
Readers from around the world, like you, make TheNigerian's work possible. We need your support to deliver quality, investigative journalism – and to keep it open for everyone. At a time when factual, honest reporting is critical, your support is essential in protecting our editorial independence. Every contribution, however big or small, is so valuable for our future.
Our brand of professional citizens' journalism requires a contribution from members of the public, patronage and sponsorship to thrive. We rely on this financial support to be able to carry out our numerous obligations of training, running cost, production, printing and general services. We also embark on Corporate Social Responsibilities through educational programs on our TV, newspaper and blogs.
