Charly Boy to support cancer survivor, Atinuke Lawal on ‘Let’s Kill It’ walk

As part of activities to mark 2017 World Cancer Day, an NGO, ‘Let’s Kill It’, is planning a fitness walk campaign against the disease. The event which takes place on Saturday, February 4, is expected to kick-off by 9am at Broad Street, Marina, Lagos. Conveners say shortly before the walk, there will be a health check session between 7:30am and 8:30am, to be followed by slow tempo aerobics dance between 8:30am and 9:00am. Also joining the walk is musician, producer and activist, Charly Boy, whose friend, Tina Onwudiwe, was one of the first Nigerians to publicly seek support for cancer. “We need to fight that fight to a standstill,” Charly Boy said. Founder of ‘Let’s Kill It’, Atinuke Lawal Sanusi, said she is passionate about the campaign, having had a path with cancer. Atinuke, a film editor and mother of two who was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 but started treatment in 2016 said she was fortunate the cancer didn’t spread. “It started with chemotherapy and after that, it went to radiotherapy,” said Atinuke who documented her treatment and discovered that most patients’ inability to raise cost of treatment was responsible for the high mortality rate from cancer. “We only have one radiotherapy machine in the whole of Nigeria which is supposed to be serving over 170 million people if anything happens. We used to have eight but seven are not functioning as we speak. “I believe that with the right support from the right organisations, government and philanthropists, we can put these things in place and make life easier for everybody. Cancer is a scourge all over the world and lots of other countries are prepared to fight it. Nigeria is the least prepared to fight cancer. Our doctors are really trying but unfortunately, there is nothing for them to work with. After going through all that and with the grace that God gave to me to survive, I couldn’t keep quiet.”