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Early this morning, as I engaged in yet another unhealthy battle with sleep, I came across a plea from the daughter of veteran actor Taiwo Hassan, popularly known as Ogoogo.
Amidst her tears, she made it clear that hers was not a plea for money. It was a desperate cry for help—to find a solution to the rapidly multiplying cells ravaging her father’s body and threatening to consume him.
Honestly, her emotional appeal felt like an announcement of what many of us would rather not hear: that the once vibrant and ever-active actor is battling the dreaded monster called cancer, and sadly, it is already at Stage Four.
As I listened to his daughter, a fresh wave of emotion swept through me. It swept through me, not because I believe some people are immune to illness or that certain individuals are somehow above the realities of life. Rather, her plea reminded me of two profound truths.
The first is that when someone you know is afflicted with a serious illness, it is a reminder that it could happen to anyone. Cancer, in particular, remains one of those diseases that continues to humble humanity despite all the advances in medicine.
The second is that whoever is still alive can never guarantee what will eventually become the cause, manner or form of their death.
Life has a way of playing games with us humans. It reminds us, sometimes painfully, that none of us is beyond its uncertainties. Today, we may be standing, laughing and living as though tomorrow is guaranteed. Then, suddenly, a story like this brings us face-to-face with the fragility of our existence.
Just yesterday, a certain area brother of mine, who had the opportunity to live with us at our Alafia, Mushin residence, sent me two disturbing videos and pictures of himself lying helplessly in a hospital bed. His stomach was badly swollen, and a catheter had been attached to him to enable him to pass urine.
My heart sank!
He was a jolly good fellow, the kind of person who would hardly allow a dull moment around him. Seeing him in that condition immediately took me back about five years, when we lost one of the brightest entertainment reporters of our time, Peter Thomas, The Groove Master.
I remember how this same area brother had asked questions about the illness and how he was afflicted with the terminal illness that eventually extinguished Peter’s life. Sadly, today, he too is lying critically ill in a hospital, uncertain about what the next moment holds.
If someone had told him around the time Peter died that, within a few years, he might find himself travelling down a similarly unwanted road, he would probably have argued vehemently against it.
That, for me, is why Ogoogo’s unfortunate development struck such a deep chord in me.
I can only imagine how difficult this period must be for his fans and, more importantly, his family. The mere mention of the word cancer by a doctor can feel like a judge handing down a death sentence. But medicine has also taught us that a diagnosis, even a frightening one, is not necessarily the final chapter. There are cases of people who have defied expectations, and hope should never be taken away from anyone still fighting.
Yet, beyond Ogoogo’s situation, this has got me thinking deeply about life, as it always does.
I have always maintained that being good is not a guarantee that good things will always happen to you. And being bad is never a licence for evil to follow you throughout your life. Life does not always operate according to the mathematics of our morality.
Neither, unfortunately, can the amount of prayer we offer guarantee that affliction will never visit us. Life can be brutally unpredictable. It does what it does, to whom it chooses, whenever it chooses.
Examples abound across the world. You will find someone who has never smoked or taken alcohol battling cancer, while another person who has smoked like a chimney, drink like fish, and lived what many would describe as an unhealthy lifestyle may live to 90 before finally saying goodbye to the world.
One person may do everything right and barely make it into their fifties, while another appears to do everything wrong and still enjoys a long life.
It is one of the many uncomfortable mysteries of existence.
Perhaps that is why we should be more compassionate with one another. We never really know what another person is carrying behind the smile, the laughter, the wealth, the fame or the apparent strength.
I genuinely feel for Ogoogo. I wish him strength, comfort and healing, and I pray that his family finds the courage to navigate this difficult season.
But, at the end of the day, all we can do is wish and hope for the best.
Reality, however, is a different ball game.
And that, perhaps, is the cruelest part of this game called life.
This is Kunle Rasheed reporting live from his inner mind
@highlight.
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