Journalist Turned Cancer Activist Exposes Fraudsters Cashing on his Ailment

Veteran journalist Edem Djokotoe has penned an emotional note on a litany of fraudsters that have collected money in his name without his consent. Djokotoe, a Ghanaian by descent but has lived in Zambia since the for more than three decades and proudly wears the Zambian hat is battling colon cancer but has become a symbol of resilience and defiance as he slowly shakes his ailment.

Better known from his days as a hard-hitting columnist in the defunct Post Newspapers where his popular Soul to Soul and Mind-Over Matter pieces were part of the signature offerings of the then loved Post Newspapers.

FULL POSTING:

There are stories doing the rounds online that I, Edem Djokotoe, am in desperate need of cash for cancer treatment and that if I do not get the money I need, I could discontinue treatment and possibly even die.

One such story appears on the Zambian Observer and suggests that there is a campaign to raise money for me.

None of this is true.  If there is a campaign in my name collecting money on my behalf, just know that is a con job and does not have my blessing.  No-one from Zambian Observer or any other site or individual claiming to be a champion of my cause has been to visit me or see my challenges up close, so they have no moral authority to say or do anything in my name.  Yet there are people out there giving others status updates about me who have not seen me for over a year and still manage get away with it.

It is well.  In all this, God sees, so I do not stress about the fraudulence of men.

For the record.  There was a GoFundMe campaign a good friend and his wife set up for me in July during my darkest days.  To be honest, I was not keen at first because I wanted to keep my situation private and close to my chest.  But when they realised that the cost of my treatment had gone through the roof after what should have been a five-hour operation at a cost of US$7,000 took 10 hours and pushed the charges up to US$12,000, they felt this would give me a lifeline.  That was the background to the GoFundMe affair.

But what should have been a low-key campaign leaked onto Facebook, was picked up by online publications and went viral.  It was not at all what I expected but lying on  back, hooked to machines with nine tubes coming out of different parts of me, there was very little I could do.

Until then, no-one outside my family and small circle of close friends even knew I was battling stage two colon cancer after eight months of misdiagnosis and mistreatment and had been living with excruciating pain even when I pushed myself in gym and did the whole DJ thing at the club.  Or that I had been to India once already, enduring five painful weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The GoFundMe campaign raised a total of US$1,470, no more.  The Fund is set up in such a way that the name of anyone anywhere in the world who donates shows against the amount they contributed.  So it was possible to send a personal “thank you” to everyone who donated to my cause.

Some, including total strangers, responding to the viral explosion, made private donations, insisting on anonymity.

Others publicly went out on a limb to collect money on my behalf, some even giving newspaper interviews about the extent of my desperation.  If you made a contribution and feel slighted that I did not show appreciation or gratitude, I am sorry.  I just do not know who gave and how much.  The best I could do under the circumstances was to express my gratitude to everyone who stood with me in prayer and in moral and material support.

In the past year, I have seen the goodness of humanity.  I have encountered angels without wings.  People who reached out and supported me when they were not obliged to, when they could have put whatever they gave to other use.  People who were selfless in their generosity to a point where the only response I could muster was tears.  I wish I could name names, but knowing them as well as I do, that’s the last thing they would want.

When I beat cancer, the credit will go to God, my wife, my family and to all of you who have been genuine in your support and friendship.   I cannot thank you enough for what you have done and who you have been.

I have always known that the world is full of opportunists and interlopers but my experience with cancer showed me the extent to which people will stoop to exploit the misfortune of others for their own material and financial gain.  But it is well.  In all this, God sees and knows the hearts of men—and women.  He knows who is honest and who is a fraud hiding between plastic smiles and a façade of goodness.  He rewards those who are selfless in their generosity and punishes those who cash in on the adversity of others.  It is He who will rain plague and pestilence on the frauds, not me.  It’s like that.

Peace and love. From Edem