Veteran Ghanaian comedian and satirist, Kwaku Sintim-Misa, known simply as KSM, has revealed he has been battling cancer since January 2021.
KSM, who turned 66 two days ago, said he feels the time is right to let the world in on his story, especially his struggles which include his battle with cancer.
Speaking exclusively on Joy News’ AM Show Wednesday, he said he was diagnosed with prostate cancer after a friend persuaded him to take a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test during a sensitization campaign.
According to KSM, he kept stalling the procedure, but his doctor friend who works at an American Rejuvenation Centre frequently urged him for the test, and he agreed, as though he was doing the doctor a favour.
“I kept stalling because I felt I was okay. The doctor kept on urging me and I was like okay I’ll do it, like I was doing him a favour. I knew my PSA levels were high but I felt fine.”
The results, he said, came back alerting that his PSA level was “uncomfortably high” which required he had a biopsy to detect if there were other underlying and related ailments.
At that time, KSM revealed he was heading for his daughter’s graduation and had to schedule an appointment in the United States of America for the biopsy.
To his dismay, not only did he have an enlarged prostate, the test revealed his entire gland was cancerous.
According to him, he was left in utmost shock as he did not have any symptom whatsoever in his 66 years of life.
“I did not have any symptoms. I did not feel any tiredness, no lack of appetite, no blood in urine, no painful erection, in fact, my libido was intact, I was good. The only thing I noticed was frequent urination. I kept visiting the washroom like every hour.”
What even shocked him the most was that he was exercising regularly; as required to prevent the ailment, taking at least 5,000 walks every weekday.
Sadly, KSM mentioned he had to undergo a prostatectomy; a radical surgery to get rid of his entire prostate, in a bid to live his life to the fullest.
“Even after the surgery where my entire gland was removed, my PSA level was still going up. So they figured that there are probably some lymph nodes that were still cancerous. My next option was to go for radiation for 31 days.”
According to him, his entire fear was loosing his hair and other features, but thankfully, he passed the tests with no detection of cancer and every part of his physique intact.
He made the revelation as his own way of sensitizing males, especially those of the black race, to take good care of their prostate.
“There’s a difference between being fit and healthy. Do frequent checkups. I was fit, but not healthy. Prevent health crisis, get tested,” he admonished.