I watched Alex Ekubo's movies. Many of us did.
The smile.
The energy.
The confidence on screen.
The man looked like health walking.
40 years old and gone.
I'm not writing this as a nutritionist right now.
I'm writing this as someone sitting with the same shock you're sitting with.
The same confusion.
The same quiet fear that creeps in when someone who looked that alive is suddenly not here.
Cancer does not arrive screaming.
It whispers.
For months. Sometimes years.
A tiredness you explain away.
Weight loss you didn't work for.
A fullness in the belly that wasn't there before.
A dull ache under the right rib that comes and goes.
Skin that turns slightly yellow but you blame the lighting.
Appetite that disappears and you call it stress.
And you tell yourself, it's malaria.
It's village people.
It's spiritual.
It will pass.
It doesn't pass.
The liver is the most silent organ in your body.
It doesn't have pain receptors the way your skin does.
It can be damaged, heavily damaged, and say nothing.
It absorbs the abuse.
The wheat.
The sugar.
The late-night eating.
The seed oil.
The alcohol.
The medication.
Year after year. And it says nothing.
Fatty liver has no symptoms. You've heard me say this before.
But today it hits different.
Because fatty liver doesn't always stay fatty liver.
Sometimes the inflammation doesn't stop.
The cells keep dividing.
The damage keeps compounding. And sometimes, not always, but sometimes, what started as fat on the liver becomes something that no scan, no transplant, and no amount of money can undo.
And the liver is not where it ends.
That's what people don't understand.
Cancer in the liver doesn't stay in the liver. It travels.
To the lungs.
The bones.
The lymph nodes.
The brain.
By the time the liver finally screams loud enough for you to listen, it may already be somewhere else. Growing. Quietly. In places you can't touch or feel.
The liver was just the starting point. The cancer doesn't ask for permission before it moves.
By the time it screams, the bill is already running. The surgery. The chemo. The transplant. The hospital bed that becomes your address. The family WhatsApp group that shifts from jokes to fundraising links overnight.
And somewhere in that room, someone will ask: could this have been caught earlier?
The answer is almost always yes.
But nobody was paying attention.
I need to say this clearly.
Not every cancer comes from the plate.
Some cancers are genetic.
Some are random.
Some hit people who did everything right and still lost.
I do not know what Alex Ekubo ate.
I do not know his medical history.
I am not diagnosing a man I never met.
But I know this.
A body that is inflamed, overworked, underfed on real nutrients, and never given a break, that body has fewer defences. Against everything. Including the things we don't see coming.
You cannot control everything. But you can control what you put on your plate. And a body that is nourished, rested, and clean has a better chance of catching what's wrong early, and a stronger foundation to fight it.
This is not a post about blame.
This is a post about paying attention.
Check your body.
Get screened.
Ask for a liver function test.
Ask for an ultrasound.
Stop waiting for pain to be the messenger, because pain is cancer's last language. Not its first.
The liver whispers. It has been whispering to some of you reading this right now.
Rest well, Alex. You gave us joy. The screen won't be the same.
And to everyone still here, take care of the body you have. It is the only one you'll get.
Yes I’ll admit
That post about Caesarian section triggered me
Because I’m a woman who was in labour for 40 hours
I was given the maximum dose of oxytocin three times to induce labour and did not dilate beyond 2cm
I was so mentally prepared to push out a human but my body just wouldn’t
Which one should I talk about?
The intense pain ripping through me every few minutes?
Should I talk about how excruciating it is to have doctors check you for dilation while you’re actively in labour?
Should I talk about the exhaustion?
Should I talk about how that when those who have vaginal delivery have long forgotten CS moms are still grappling with wounds and pain and numbness and tingling from the anaesthetsia?
I had my baby in Canada and the nurses kept asking me if I wanted a pain relief
I did not want any drug to interfere
I was ready to bear the pain and I did
I think I have the most supportive husband in the world. He stood there every second with me. Holding my hand. Wincing as Pain coursed through me
But he did not feel the pain. Not the physical one.
I did.
So has every woman who has gone through this
When the doctors saw that my contractions were not the “good type”, they said I could get a uterine rupture, I had to be taken for a CS.
And everyday I’m grateful to God for the miracle of a CS
That a mother who has given her all can still have her baby and they both be fine
So sir, when you have had contractions for 40 hours
When you have had 7 layers of your body sliced open so you can bring forth children
When you have gone months nursing a wound that is layers deep
When you’ve been placed on a cold surgical table and cut 7 layers deep
For some 4 times.
Then come back and have this Conversation with me
Thank God for your mother and the long line of women in your family that had vaginal deliveries.
But no two women are the same.
Don’t put that burden on the woman you would marry.
A CS is not a shortcut
A CS does not make a woman weak
A CS does not happen because you did not pray enough or you’re unlucky
A CS is a medical miracle so that women like me especially pre term moms, can come out alive from the mystery that is pregnancy and childbirth
Blessings.
incase you weren't raised correctly, i think it’s a mans job to set the tone in a relationship; whether people want to admit it or not, a woman feeds off his energy.. his consistency, his intentions, his presence. she takes what he gives and reflects it. when a man leads with clarity, love, and respect, it creates a space where a woman can feel safe, soft, and secure. vice versa, when he leads with confusion, mixed signals, and inconsistency, it forces her to operate in survival mode. she becomes guarded, unsure, and emotionally exhausted.
Having differing opinions/ perspectives about a situation shouldn't make us enemies. Making an extremist statement that something someone else likes or does is wrong or inferior doesn't make you right. I can love you and still disagree with you on some things.
@jon_d_doe He went ahead to get married without clearing his debt. Now, the man he owed came 3 days after because how dare you owe me and enjoy marrital bliss. He should have cleared his debt before getting married and his wife should have turned the deal down by all means
@jon_d_doe Few months ago, a man called off his marriage because his wife to be had a debt of 8m. Another commented about how he went to jail because his wife took loans from 3 different banks before their marriage, running into millions of naira.
The man in this story was indebted yet...
What you do in private always shows in public.
Your reading shows in your vocabulary. Your diet shows in your energy. Your workouts in how you move. Your focus in your results.
You are the sum of what you do when no one is watching.
@instablog9ja Where will they get the perfect partner from, except na God you want marry. Our needs and want differ, even with the first ever perfect partner people will still have their dissatisfactions about the person.
@TangerinAfrica Please I need access to your website or app. I need to get update about my premium. I got a call from your personnel who promised to send an update to my email, yet nothing was sent.
You need to do better with your communication and updates
Gained admission in 2018.
Diagnosed with cancer in 2022
Deferred 4 semesters.
Underwent a bone marrow transplant in May, 2023
Returned to school in Sept 2023
Graduated with First Class Honors in Nursing in 2025.
God is in this story
ODUMERU A.A BNsc, RN, RM
@badgirlalla@peace_igho@Allezamani You're right. It's not easy to let go of the one you love.
However, the crisis that follows causes a lot of regrets and strain on the relationship.
@grok Hi @grok, I need an international scholarship for public health, digital health research or any health related research without application fees. Do you know of any, please?