Charly Boy Foundation CEO, Dr. Doris Udensi, Reveals Names of Those That Have Supported The Foundation To Help Prostate Patients

 For those who may not have read about her somewhere or seen her before on teevee, Dr. Doris Udensi Davis is the easy going and very brilliant CEO of the Charly Boy Foundation. She's a pharmacist, an aspiring politician and a business consultant. She studied in the United States, got her degree from the University of North Carolina and also had an OND here in Nigeria. Dr. Doris has worked in several places including the African Union 6th Region, Canada, as a Communication Director for four years. She has also undertaken several leadership responsibilities with quite a number of accomplishments to show for it. With her position as the CEO of the Charly Boy Foundation, a foundation that caters specifically for men battling with Prostate, Doris has done a fantastic job within the one year or thereabout that she's been directing the operations of the foundation.

A few days ago, she took a break from her busy schedule to speak with the press concerning  progress made so far with the Charly Boy Foundation and also took time to reveal the names of some of the personalities and organisations that have offered tremendous support to the foundation. Here are excerpts.

Tell us, how has your experience been so far as the arrowhead of the Charly Boy Foundation? What sort of response have you gotten from the public in terms of people coming forward to seek assistance from the foundation?

Well, the experience has been overwhelming because if you have noticed, you'll find out that this thing that we're dealing with, the prostate health, is something that I can personally describe as a pandemic because when you get in the field, you find out that a lot of men are dealing with it. So it's very overwhelming. The emails, the calls, and we can't get everybody. We want to, but financially we can't because, I wish the way the people that need help are responding is the same way the people that can help out are also responding, that would’ve been great. So the support has been trickling in very slowly, but the number of people that need help is a lot and so for the Foundation, we can only do the best we can. But we have experienced a noteworthy progress in addressing the critical issues that are affecting Nigerian men. So that's basically what I can say.

We have made significant strides in promoting the men's health awareness. I think we started this thing in a little bit under a year and we have made tremendous strides. I can also beat my chest and say that we have done well. You know, we have covered a couple of states, and totally, I'm sure we have tested close to 500 people, paid for them, and a few that we have referred for treatment. And so, yes, we have done well so far.

That's great to know. But how overwhelming has it been managing the volume of applications that you get? How overwhelming has it been? Do you think the volume of requests is something you'll be able to manage for a while? Is it looking like there is hope that within a short while you'll be able to do a whole lot more than you're doing right now?

The thing is not us managing it, the thing is if we can get more funders, more support. If we have money, managing it, this is what I love to do, you know. I love to care for people's health. So, managing it, the sad and overwhelming part of it is like you have 200 applications and you look at the money you have, you can only help 50 people. So that's the sad and the overwhelming part of it. So how do you choose? And you look at them, all of these people need help. So that's the difficult part of it. But if the funds were there, it's easy to respond to the messages and schedule them, send them to labs. It's not that difficult. The only difficult part of it is that the funds are not there yet.

How surprised are you that this prostate issue is a whole lot bigger than you probably originally thought? How surprised are you? Personally, as a journalist, I am also just starting to realise that there are a handful of older people around me that I didn’t know were battling with prostate, so as the CEO of the foundation, are you surprised that this is a lot more serious than you probably thought?

Well, I'm not surprised. It's not surprising to me. It's not a shock for me. Like, you know, I'm a medical practitioner, I see a lot of these things. Even outside Nigeria, it’s a big problem that men have. The only problem here in Nigeria is that there is no information, you understand? People don't have access to information and management. A lot of the illnesses that are common, it's basically management. Something like high blood pressure, something like diabetes, you know, it's management. Because once you start having it, it's really, there's no cure for it, you just manage it. But they are easy to manage. The problem we have here is that we don't have functional healthcare systems. We don't have information. People don't have access to information to teach them these things, they're not about to kill you right away if you take better care of yourself.

Give them information on what to do, how to eat, how to exercise, you know, be mindful of what you eat, especially be careful of the stress you put yourself through and all those kinds of stuff. There's a whole lot of things you can do to change the trajectory of your health before it gets out of hand. That is the only surprising thing, well, not surprising because that's the first thing. The reason why I got involved in this is because I've noted that this is an area that we need help. In Nigeria, we don't practice preventative medicine. We practice cure and even at that that, we don't even have very good health care systems. So it's not surprising to me at all because this is something I see every day.

What would you say to the health care agencies, especially the ones that should take responsibility for publicity, to let people understand how to deal with this situation, or to even begin with, to encourage people to come out, speak out and seek information and find some form of medical solution to the problem?

I don't think it's the responsibility of the health care agency or, you know, health care clinics or doctors. I don't think so because this things cost of money. If somebody opens up a clinic or a hospital or something, they're opening it up because they want to give you service and you pay them. So in a lot of countries outside this place, that is where the government comes in. Either you subsidize the health care or you give free health care to certain people with certain income. You have to say, for instance, okay, if you make minimum wage, you're qualified to get free health care. So there's an insurance scheme for that, for people with a certain amount of money in a year. That's how it is in a lot of places. From where I'm coming from, that's how it’s done. As a matter of fact, so long as you are a citizen, you have free health care. Unless your job, where you work, gives you health care, then if they give you health care insurance, then when you have problems, the job will pay for it. Otherwise, if you don't have health care insurance from your job, the government keeps paying for it.

So it's like that in the UK. Only in America, you don't have free health care, but there are programs. There are programs, there's Medicaid, there's Obamacare, there are programs that people benefit from to take care of the basic health needs. If you have high blood pressure or diabetes, there are some illnesses, if you have them, you get free health care. So I'm not holding health care agencies responsible.

I am actually talking about agencies run by the government.

Okay, unless you're talking about like the Ministry of Health, which is still the government. So, if you're talking about the government, the ministry, they should be able to have a program to take care of the people. We deserve that. Nigeria, we're not a poor country, but they're making us look poor. We're not poor. If they want to do that, they can do it. We have enough money to do that. We spend too much money on irrelevant things. We don't spend money in our health care and education, which are the two most important things. But hey, that's not my forte. But I'm just saying that they should take responsibility and help the citizens.

Our people are dying over simple things that just need management. How many people can afford to, if you have high blood pressure or you're diabetic, how many can afford to buy their medication every month? Because once you start taking this management medication, for some people it might last a lifetime, as long as they're living. For some people, it corrects the situation, but for some people, just have to live with it. But if you manage it well, you live with it for a long time. Somebody like, ex-president Obasanjo, he told me that he has lived with diabetes for over 50 years. So if he wasn't well off, do you think he could manage it for that long? No. So that's just the way I see it.

All right, let's talk about support that's been coming in for the Foundation. I know that there have been a few people who have been incredibly supportive, do you want to mention a few of them?

Yes, Zenith Bank has supported us. Anchor Insurance has supported us. Zinox's Group of companies has been extremely supportive. There are other individuals, private individuals, ordinary citizens that have supported with N100,000, N200,000, N500,000, etc. We were getting a lot of those. A lot of people have been incredible. There's nothing like if you want something done, you do it yourself, you understand? So somebody who is donating N10,000 has decided, you know what, we need help here, so why don't I chip in the little I can? It might seem a little, but a little is better than nothing.

But would it be correct to say that, you know, despite all of the efforts from these very great people, there's still a whole lot that you need to move the Foundation forward?

Oh, yes, still a whole lot. We need a lot of funds to move it forward. Because, you know, like I said, we have tested over 500 people. Now when you test people, thank God a lot of the people we've tested, a lot of them just needed to know their status, because there's nothing like knowing what you're dealing with, you understand? And that way you can catch whatever that is coming on time. Now, there are some other people that already are in danger. So when you test those kinds of people and give them this news, what next? What next? Because for the fact that they know that they're dealing with this can easily kill them faster than if they didn't know, especially if they come to the reality that they do not have the funds to deal with it.  

Testing is good, but our intentions are we'll test people that need help, we refer them to where they can get help, and we'll support with the little bit that we can. We don't intend to pay for the entire treatment, but we want to help out. Say if you have a bill of say N500,000, we want to be able to say, okay, we have tested you for free. We have referred you to a healthcare practitioner who is our partner who will give you a discount. If they're giving you their treatment valued at N800,000, and they say pay N500 or N600, we're giving you N100,000 or N200,000 to help. It's better than nothing. So that person, his children, the friends, the family, they can help, he can go to his savings, whatever, find that money to take care of yourself, you understand? So that's what we want to do. That's what we want to be in the position to do.

Okay, so, in other words, you’re still asking for other prominent Nigerians to come out and support the foundation? Because it’s obvious there’s a whole lot the foundation still needs money for. I was informed by the Area Fada himself that the Chairman of Zinox Group of companies, Mr. Stan Ekeh has been an incredible supporter of the Charly Boy Foundation and he also donated a few items lately.

Yes, he donated some urinary catheter to us. And you know, those things come in handy because there's somebody there who's always suffering from either prostate enlargement or, you know, obstruction and cannot urinate. They need those items. So, when we get a lot of those, we'll figure out how to use it. You know, if it's something that the individual can take and use by themselves. But for the most part, it's better if it's used in the clinic by a doctor. So, we want to, I think, I'm not sure how we're going to do it, but we'll figure that out, you know, in no time. We'll sit down and discuss it with a few of our partners, doctors and lab scientists to know if we have to donate them also to our partners to treat our patients that we'll send to them when they need it. So, yes, we are indeed very grateful for the donation from Zinox Group of companies. Mr. Stanley Ekeh is the chairman of Zinox group of companies. He has been wonderful. He also donated some money to us and gave us the urinary catheters.

Let’s talk about the Area Fada, of course, he is more or less like the poster boy of the foundation. His astonishing prostate story, and his battle to overcome it has resonated well with a lot of people who also have the same health situation on their hands. How important do you think his coming out to speak about his prostrate ordeal has been to inspiring others to come out and seek for help?

Without him going through this and then coming out to speak out, we wouldn't have this foundation. It’s because he went through it and he understands how difficult this situation is. And then when he's talking to a lot of his friends and families and Nigerians online, he puts everything out there. He doesn't have any secrets like that, he puts it out there. He says, hey, look o! I no fit pee o! And people started calling, like, what? Area Fada, I'm going through the same thing. So, it was the response he got that made him think, you know what? I can do this and help my fellow men. If Nigerians will rally around me, I can champion this. From the response he was getting, it became clear that a lot of men are going through this. I can tell you, weekly, he gets thousands and thousands of calls, email messages, DMs, and it was crazy, you know. So, that's why he decided to do this.

And, you know, we've been to an interview where somebody asked, what is in it for you? For him, it's the high that he gets from helping people. That's what he gets. That's what makes him happy. That's what helps him sleep at night, to know that he has been able to help of this man, the other man. Because he understands that, you know, when we talk to some people, there are some men you ask them, when was the last time you had a check? They look at you like, what? What are you talking about? They've never checked themselves. They don't know anything about their health, you know. So, that little money you see as little, the N80,000, N100,000, N70,000 to go get a complete checkup on yourself, there are people that can't afford it. Somebody that's making, how much is minimum wage now? Maybe N70,000? Then, that's where your rent is coming, your food, the children's school fees, transportation. So, which one is left for you to go do a test?

So, even if it’s only the test that we're doing, I think that's a lot, you know. But when you look at it deeply, when you do that test and you know that something is wrong, where do you go from there? So, that's why we want to move a little bit, a step further from the test. But the main thing is spreading the news, educating men to know that your health is your wealth. Take care of yourself. Be in the know. Some people think that prostate is a disease. When they hear prostate, they say, God forbid, as they say, I reject it. We're so religious. We reject stuff in Jesus' name. But prostate is not a disease because every born, breathing man has prostate gland. But it's what happens to it that is the sickness. If it's enlarging so fast, because it can never be the same size it was when you were born. It's supposed to be larger. But it's how fast that it's enlarging that becomes the problem.

You know, when we were little, we didn't hear about all these things. Our fathers or grandfathers, they didn’t have them. But then, you know, we ate differently then, because a lot of things that are happening to us health-wise is from what we eat. It's from what we eat and the environment. The lifestyle choices we make and all that stuff. And then you can be surprised what stress can do to you. Stress can cause anything you can think of. We overlook stress, but stress can cause any kind of disease, any kind of sickness. So if we are in the know, we are well-educated about our health, then you know better, then you do better.