Alcohol, stroke: I spent N4m, sold car, land- Pa Kasumu

Alcohol, stroke: I spent N4m, sold car, land- Pa Kasumu

Saturday, February 8, 2020 10:40 am


Pa Kasumu

By Jethro Ibileke

Do you take pleasure in a drinking bing? Do you pride yourself in the number of bottles of beer you could finish? You are not alone. You’re neither the first nor will be the last. But, watch it, it could spell danger for you.

Remember the famous and talented Olukayode Olugbenga Odumosu, aka Pa Kasumu, of the movie industry? He was once famous in drinking bouts. The outcome is however not palatable, one he realized almost too late. Now, he feels you could learn from his near death experience.

Listen to him: “In 2008, I started feeling as if I was having typhoid. I went to my doctor, Dr. Femi Olayemi, of The Best Hospital, Jibowu.

“After seeing my doctor, he told me to go for further tests, that is cardiovascular test. I went for it, but since [they] couldn’t read the result, because there was no specialist there, he had to refer me to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idiaraba. That was in 2009.

 

Watch the video here

 

“The diagnosis showed that the heart and  liver were infected. They said the thing was already getting to the kidney. But, thank God, they were able to tackle it.

“I spent over N4 million within 2009 and 2010. I had to sell my BMW car and two plots of land to raise money for my treatment,” he added. 

Of course, that was huge sum of money then.

What was the cause of his ordeal? Excessive alcohol consumption!

“Actually, I didn’t realize it until I did the test. The doctor asked me if I’d been drinking, and I responded that I stopped drinking in 2006. He shook his head and said that I must have been a great drinker.”

How did his drinking habit begin?

“We had some seniors then who drank and we used to drink whatever is left in the empty bottles. That was how I started drinking,” Pa Kasimu disclosed.

He is not alone. Many also started their drinking habit that way.

“At this juncture, I need to advice those who think they can drink and nothing will happen, my advice for them is that they should just quit drinking immediately. If you have to drink, drink responsibly.

“During my drinking bing, we used to take bets on who finished cartons of beer first. On one occasion, I finished two cartons of big stout! 

“There was a time, at Obey’s Miliki Spot, I arrived late and my friends who had been waiting for me, challenged me to a bet with a big bottle of White Horse gin. They taunted me that l was champion only of big stout or any other beer. I eagerly agreed to the challenge, and I did finish the gin. But, I woke up on the third day. After I woke up, I realized that I became slim.”

Smoking is another habit indulged in by most heavy drinkers. The veteran actor did also. Perhaps that complicated his situation. But, thankfully, though, he said he “stopped smoking since 1977 after I gave birth to my first son.”

Pa Kasimu has a word of caution for potential drinkers and smokers:

“Whatever one is doing, just do it in moderation. These days, I drink only water, because, reading scripts is very difficult for me.”

A word, they say, is enough, only for the wise ones! We don’t have to experience everything to learn the dangers inherent in it.

Hopefully, Pa Kasimu will soon recover fully. And he plans to write a book on his ordeal, with a view to teaching  active drinkers and smokers how to live life without alcohol. Hear him: “Something that has happened to one is always in the brain. So, whenever I recover fully, by the grace of God, I’ll write to teach people how to live life without alcohol.”

P

Based on SAHARA TV interview

 


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