Some months ago, pictures of Nigeria artiste, Vast, who is one of the two members of Bracket, surfaced online and it was unflattering as it showed a shadow of the Vast people are used to seeing, receiving medication at a hospital in London. It appeared he had developed an illness and was being treated.
“When the picture leaked, we were not happy initially. I was very skinny but when I saw the response from the fans, I was shocked. I did not know people liked me that much. Trust me; there was a female fan that said that if I died, she was going to die. I nearly cried and said God, if you save me, I would make these people one of the happiest people on earth. That was why I went to the studio and began singing like I never did before. I took myself back to the days when we sang ‘Yori Yori’,” he told Saturday Punch.
Narrating how he found out about his ailment, he offered: “It all started when we went on an American tour and I started feeling feverish. I found myself taking my bath with hot water even on a very hot day. That was when I started noticing something was wrong. I noticed that whenever I drank alcohol, the fever would come in an aggressive way. I eventually went to a hospital in London. The doctor told me not to worry that everything would be fine. He said to start the treatment, they would have to do something that would allow them take something from my spine. It was a very painful procedure. There was a time that I felt I would die. My only fear was that I was not close to God. I was afraid that if I died, I would not make it to heaven. We musicians have a particular lifestyle. You may plan to be upright, but when you go into entertainment business, it would change you. I was regretting that I was not close to God. I did not want to go to hell. I felt so happy that I survived,”
Telling of how he was able to afford the cost of treatment, he mentioned P-Square, Kcee, Flavour and a London-based friend, Ugonna, who offered them both accommodation and about £30,000.
“After the treatment, I did two other tests and the doctors confirmed that I was okay. After three months, I am meant to go for a PET scan. I could remember that before the treatment, we had a meeting and agreed that we had to bring £50,000. After the seventh chemotherapy session, the whole money finished. They had to send more £8,000 into the account I was using. The last time I went to withdraw money, what was left there was £120. So I used about £58,000,”
He also added that he has been told to stay away from unprotected sex for the next three months because if he impregnates a woman, the baby would not form normally because there are residues from the chemotherapy in his system.