19th January, 2015
By Adebambo Epiphanio Joseph
Concerned Nigerians are worried about the scourge of cancers which is currently on the rampage. The disease which was unpopular some decades ago is now common place. At the least, one in every five Nigerians must have been familiar with it. If the Nigerian is not a direct sufferer, the citizen must know a close relative who had been terminally afflicted. The disease is currently becoming endemic to cause the reason for searching for an effective intervention.
The late Mrs. Theresa Ekundayo Joseph, nee Adu, was the wife of this writer. She died of cancer of the kidney in September 1994. She was diagnosed of suffering from the disease in February of that ear at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, Lagos.
In his book, ‘Spiritual Essays’, Prince Tony Momoh, the former Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a veteran journalist, recounted his encounter with a breast cancer patient for one full year, in the person of his elder brother’s wife, ‘Lanke’. After the successful surgery of taking off the infected breast, the excruciating experience to avail her the post-surgery therapy, in form of the radiation treatment that the Prince went through, could better be imagined than described.
He survived a daily anxiety for a full year, in hoping against hope. The radiotherapy machine needed for the post-surgery treatment had been submerged in the official corruption for it to see the light of day. Madam Lanke died. This was at the tenure of Alhaji Shehu Shagari the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The late Mrs. Motunlayo Olufunke Shofowote, nee Orebiyi, also surrendered to the cold hands of death, after a prolonged courageous battle with cervical cancer. She died in a European specialist hospital. If she were alive today, she would have been involved in organising the forthcoming event by the Committee of Concerned Women for Grail Movement- Nigeria. She was a philanthropist, a woman role-model and an epitome of womanhood par excellence. About two-third of all cancer cases are not caused by environmental factors or bad genes that had earlier been held responsible. There are many reasons that could be responsible for the ‘bad luck’. Reports from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre in the U.S.A. confirm that there are many forms of cancer, but they are basically cells running amok, and multiplying uncontrollably, which leads to tumours growing and interfering with the normal functions of an organ.
Carcinogenic factors like smoking of cigarettes and exposure to direct rays of the sun or heredity contribute to the probability of developing the disease. The majority of the causes cannot be traced to these factors. They are as a result of other lifestyles- mainly that of the urban dwellers.
This is the reason for a talk-shop which took place on Saturday, 17 January, 2015, at the University of Lagos, Afe Babalola Auditorium. The theme of the seminar was ‘LIFESTYLES THAT PREVENT CANCER’. It was organised by the Committee of Concerned Women for Grail Movement- Nigeria. The Sunshine Foundation is a Non-Governmental Organization, NGO, focusing on the welfare of the senior citizens in Nigeria.
‘Prevention is better than cure’ is the maximal mantra that is constantly repeated for the internalization of the citizens for self-disease control. Some experts that served as resource persons at the important event cut across the spectrum of health-givers, orthodox-medicine, Energy Therapy Homeopathy and African Traditional medicine.
Facilities and health personnel were provided for general diagnosis of the first 200 attendees at the foyer of the venue, courtesy of the Shell Petroleum Development and Exploration Company of Nigeria.
•Prince Joseph wrote from Lagos