Apostle vows to wage war against cancer after losing kid sister

When Blessing Oruchi Nda Ekwem died, she left a vacuum in the hearts of those who loved her and many unanswered questions.

Blessing, another fallen victim in the ever-growing statistics of women killed by cancer in Nigeria, silently and secretly battled the debilitating illness without sharing her burden with her siblings.

While battling to come to terms with her demise, her siblings are also asking themselves questions and guilt-tripping on how they could have failed to notice that Blessing had a terminal illness.

One of her siblings, Apostle Ifeanyichukwu Ekwuem is among those mostly affected by the passing of Blessing. He spoke with our Executive Editor, Juliana Francis, in an emotionally laden voice, struggling to control his emotions.

The woman, fourth among six children was born to late Batholomew Uzoamaka Ekwem and late Florence Osi Ekwem.

Blessing, who is survived by two young men, Chima and Onyemauche, has been described as a woman of, “strong character, who grew into a woman of substance.”

Ifeanyi grieved: “She was mostly loved by her strong character and love to do good. She stood against but also fought bullies. She represented and ensured the good name of my family stood firmly.

“Her last moments were a complete struggle. However, she kept her faith even amid the pain. She will be forever missed but we as a family will be forever grateful to have had Blessing as our sister, mother and Aunt”

The death blessing brought pain, but it also galvanized Ifeanyi into taking a resolute decision to do everything within his power to help other people quickly detect cancer and check its spread. He knows that early detection will save lives.

It was due to his plan to work towards arresting cancer, that led to his maiden Christian outreach in Nigeria with the theme: ‘There’s No Time: My Father Can Work It Out,’  held on  14th of December 2024 at the Akowonjo area of Egbeda, Lagos State.

During the awareness campaign programme, Ifeanyi spoke elaborately to the gathering about the different strains of cancer and why early detection was important for treatment and saving lives.

The cleric further shared with this reporter his plans to establish a ministry and foundation, which would be powered by channeled love offerings, and the offerings would be channeled toward cancer screening and treatment.

Our reporter had a short interview with the Apostle after the event.

Below is his short interview…

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born on 1st October 1960, I just turned 64 in October. I have lived outside the country for 36 years.

What’s your programme all about ?

It is very simple. I came to talk about breast cancer. I came to talk about cancer in general.

The reason is that a couple of months ago, I lost my younger sister to breast cancer. If she had spoken up, perhaps I would have done something. But by the time the message got to me, it was too late.
So I came here, to talk about cancer and to raise some sort of awareness about breast cancer and other forms of cancers, including prostate cancer in men.

Will it be heartbroken for us to talk about your late sister right now?

Not! I’m more than happy for you to mention her.

At what point did you discover that your sister had cancer?

We discovered it when it was between stages 4 and 5. It had become terminal.

Was she hiding it?

She hid it, yes. I don’t know why. I think it’s that belief that prayer, olive oil and holy will cure cancer. She probably didn’t even think about how serious cancer is.

I think she was ignorant of the fact and didn’t grasp the depth and how terrible the disease is.

She had it for about 12 to the preceding years. She didn’t say a word. So, yeah, she died out of ignorance.

Is it ignorance or religion?

Thank you very much for asking this; I think most importantly, it has something to do with religion, which is quite stupid. Not ignorance, but religion, yes.

What is your advice to Nigerian women who are fixated on religion and seeking medical help?

They should seek medical attention, seek help. If you see a lump, tumour, boil, or whatever on your body, seek medical help straight away.

As I said earlier in my programme, I am setting up a charity foundation to pay for any indigent person who cannot afford the medical bill for screening.

My charity and ministry will pay for it. I also mentioned that the ministry I’m about to set up, if you’re poor, you sell tomatoes or groundnuts, please do not bring your money to the church. The treatment will be taken care of by the rich.

Creating this awareness going forward, will be done by the good people of this country who are well off. They will set it up and they will build it up. The money won’t go to the patients directly, it will go to the physicians who will treat these cancer patients.

The physician will be tasked by the charity to make sure that this person is seen. So that is where we are now.

So this is one of the reasons for our event,  awareness, to let people know about your plans.

Absolutely! Both the ministry and the charity.

Are you starting both the ministry and foundation in Nigeria?

Yes. I’m starting two programmes in Nigeria. The name of the charity foundation was given to me in a dream. This is my sister who died, her name was Oruchi. My mom’s maiden name is Osi. So I put both of them together and I came up with Osiruchi.

The foundation will be the Osiruchi Charity Foundation. As for the ministry, I don’t know what to call it yet. I think the people will decide.

Who are the people?

Oh, look at the people who came to the event. I don’t know what name I’m going to call the ministry. But I’m sure that I will dream of something, or something will come to me.

We are looking at capital-intensive projects here, don’t you think?

I think, in a way, having been out of this country for over 36 years, somehow the good Lord has blessed me. I think he’s blessed me with the gift, the talent. That is the first thing he’s given me. I think I am about to maximize that. I’m not thinking about where the fund is going to come from.

But I know it will come. I know that I’m blessed with just a little to kick it off. And then hopefully, everyone else will join after I start.

What’s the gestation period? Is it next year, the next two years, next three years?

It’s starting just now! Right now! As I’m speaking with you now, it has started.

If you spread the word, through His grace, and through the grace that is bestowed on you, and you spread this word, I’m sure that good Nigerians will hear about this, and they’ll want to know what is going on.

We need to know more about this disease that kills Europeans and Africans. It kills even those with the facilities to detect and cure, let alone Nigerians.

“Another thing I wanted to mention is the attitude of the doctors here in Nigeria.

In Europe, doctors will give you treatment before asking questions. But over here, a doctor will not give treatment first”

It has no culture. It doesn’t have a tradition, no barriers. No colour discrimination. But you cannot allow it to go to stages 1, 2, 3 and 4. You must be tested earlier!

During my programme, we’ve got people testifying that they’ve got this and that cancer.  At the event,  about four or five women came up to talk about their situations, even a woman who has a problem with her eye. They are trying to remove the growth, she has just N300,000. Another thing I wanted to mention is the attitude of the doctors here in Nigeria.

In Europe, doctors will give you treatment before asking questions. But over here, a doctor will not give treatment first.

In my sister’s case, she was not able to see a single doctor for all the periods she visited Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) until she took her last breath.

There were nurses and testers and this and that, nurses and a machine. It was clear she was going to die anyway because she was on stage 4 or 5, but a doctor should have seen her anyway.

A doctor could have reached out to her family to say, ‘Hey, your sister is not going to make it, but we just have to go through the process anyway…’ But they didn’t see her, which is sad.

It’s sad. To me, it’s incredibly worrisome that a doctor can professionally behave the way they do here in Nigeria.

So do you think it’s the fault of the doctors or the government?

Well, a doctor has taken an oath. I’m a psychologist by profession. I’m a trained psychologist. I’m not going to treat someone with mental health and then say, oh, the government did not do so, so I’m not going to talk to this patient or that patient.

It is the government, yes, the government is on the one side. We have a non-functioning government that is not practical towards the individual in this country.

That has nothing to do with me. I’m not looking at them. I answered the call, which happened when I was 10 years old, but I answered it 54 years later.

I’m taking it from here. So I’m not looking at the government, but I’m also looking at some individuals who will listen to this story and they will be able to chip in so that we can help our people.

Where are the locations of the ministry and foundation?

Well, the locations I haven’t determined yet. Hopefully, something will come up.