Playwright, poet and essayist, Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known as Prof. Wole Soyinka, speaking on how he survived prostate cancer, said his wife played a crucial role in the process.
Soyinka disclosed this in an interview with BBC Life Clinic’s Charles Mgbolu at his Ogun State home on Tuesday where he said 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 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 (his wife) most of the time rather than me,” he said.
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According to the Nobel Laureate who used an advanced technology known as proton therapy to treat the deadly disease, “there is no disease in the world in which any human being need be ashamed”.
After undergoing successful treatment, the 85-year-old is in good health and he takes pretty good care of himself.
Also, Soyinka said it’s a shame to see people go to Canada, the States, Europe, 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.
It also said proton therapy is not yet available in Nigeria.
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