Why I Set Up A Foundation To Help Men With PROSTATE

• CHARLY Boy Tells City People

There is a deadly ailment that’s slowly killing thousands of Nigerian men by the day. Medical experts believe it is now very rampant amongst many Naija men but a lot of the men lack the courage to come out and share their problems. This deadly ailment is called Prostate. It makes it difficult for men to control their pee and sends them to the toilet more than ten times in less than an hour. But the most terrifying part of this monster called Prostate is that it takes away the man’s ability to get his sexual organ up. This is the part that shatters men affected by prostate the most.

One of Naija’s living legends, activist and social commentator, the radical one called Charly Boy aka Area Fada, is one public figure that’s come out to openly share his challenges with Prostate. After having gone for surgery, the Area Fada is slowly making full recovery but he does not want to just get his healing and simply walk away. He wants to do something about the menace of Prostate and leave behind a legacy that will outlive his name. This is why he has decided to set up the Charly Boy Foundation to help men fight Prostate. He opened to City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) this project he considers the most significant project he has ever undertaken. Enjoy excerpts of the interview.

How was it like for you, dealing with the reality that you were down with Prostate?

Now, I understand why men are scared because of this, I had Stage 1 Prostate cancer, I was lucky because my pee and everything were mixing with my bladder, it had become cancerous, so there was a need to just stop it in it’s track, and that’s why the next day after the examination, I was admitted.

I stayed in Reddington Hospital for about five days, and my recovery was kind of quick. I can’t say now, that I’m totally free. This operation happened last year around May. After a successful surgery, you can imagine someone like me, who’s really not a religious person, my wife carry me go church, she said we must thank God, and of course I went to church, invited a few people, but wetin still dey cry for bush, still dey cry for bush, because throughout my challenge, I noticed, like I said earlier, that I had become so uninterested in sex. I used to think that as I don collect some 47 years from my wife, see finish don enter, but that wasn’t true, I just turned off, because my “thing” still wasn’t rising when it was supposed to rise, and I didn’t have the full command of my organ, and you know, for a man, your penis is like your priced possession. For a man wey no too get money, and him thing no dey too function, you feel less of a man, and that is why a lot of men that I know, they don’t want to talk about it, they want to just carry it as their own cross. But as I keep saying, it is bad. The sooner you check up to know what’s happening in your body, the better the more prepared you are.

Now, like I said earlier on, while I was wondering what to do, and somebody had heard my interview on TV, and on the radio, I don’t mind mentioning his name. His is name is Louis Stan Ekeh, the computer guy who owns one of the biggest franchises with.Xenox Computers. And he said to me “you know, Charlie, the way that I’ve seen you answer questions, I think this is what you should sign off with, let this be part of the legacy you leave since you’re so good at talking to people and having sessions with men. Why don’t you do this as a full time job? And I said that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard and that’s how I jumped into action. And the thing about me is once you give me a good idea, I just run with it.

So that’s how we set up the Charly Boy Foundation and we began working with different people; hospitals in the East, in Umuahia, in Owerri, Enugu, and Abuja. We are in partnership with these organizations. And our primary duty was to raise funds knowing that men can be slow in medically checking themselves, and I, as the Chief Campaigner for awareness against Prostate Cancer, my duty is to relate with the men in such a way that they can have a test done, at least, for the first time.

Depending on your location, it typically costs about 50k to 100k but the foundation is ready to offset half or perhaps even three quarter of the test fee and this is why we need funds and donations to help other people who may not have the wherewithal to pay for the basic test.

After the basic test and the results are not so bad, we can also help with follow-up medications but if the results say it is quite serious, we can randomly select certain patients and make funds available for a full surgery. So, this is our modus operandi but the thing is, I really can’t do it alone. I’m not a doctor, nor do I have anything to do with the medical sector. My job is majorly to create awareness and publicize to the men that openness is important in these challenging times.

What would you like to say to Nigerians who have been fairly blessed with enough resources to support this kind of project?

So, for any family that has gone through what I have gone through, they will understand, and all they can do is help us with their widow’s mite, whatever they can afford. The truth is I’m still scratching my head, I don’t see a lot of NGOs that are catering for men, because it’s all about women and children, I mean, men are human beings too. And you know how mothers’ day dey be now, and when you flip it, you know how fathers’ dey be.’ Children hardly celebrate their fathers, and I don’t know where all this is coming from, whether it’s the mothers that are brainwashing the children, I really just don’t understand why men are always the last on the line.

That is why there’s a correlation between “you’re a man now, chest am, man up”, “shey you no be man, why are you crying?”, and I keep saying those are wrong messages, because when some things touch me ehn, I go cry like a baby, if I no cry in public, I go cry inside my room.

When people say “can you cry?”, I say “wetin, am I a robot?”, Of course I can cry; I cry when it’s necessary to cry. When I’m hurt, or when I’m feeling down, I cry. And I smile when it’s necessary to smile. When I see that maybe through my handiwork, I’ve added value to someone, or while I’m riding my scooter, all I can give is a smile, and if you see me and return that smile, I’ll say “May your day be blessed”.

So, what Nigerians can do is to rally round, let’s see how, through the Charly Boy Foundation, we can help more men, because, men these days are going through a whole lot. Women, I’ve always said, are the stronger gender, not a lot of men would agree with that, but that’s my personal opinion. Women just know how to revive themselves, they know how to continue, even after their partner dies, or messes up. Men, on the other hand, are over grown babies, that’s what I keep saying. We don’t know how to continue, na small thing dey affect us in a very drastic way.

In the Charly Boy Foundation, it’s not just about mens’ health and wellness, it’s mostly about our mental state. Our mental state is being eroded seriously like never before. No be everybody you see for road be normal person, and no be everybody wey dey inside house na normal person.

The mental state of most Nigerians now is something to be very, very worried about, so we have professionals who can talk to people, as long as people can learn to open up, and let new information into their minds, because our state of happiness or depression, depends on what we’re entertaining in our minds.

For Enquiries, Please Contact

Dr. Doris Udensi

08024231487

Charly Boy Foundation

Fidelity Bank

Naira –  4010076870

USD – 4170004872

EURO – 4170004889

GBP – 4170004896