A Doctor's Counsel on Cancer Screening: Chadwick Boseman's Death and the Rise of Early Disease in Young Cameroonians
Following actor Chadwick Boseman's death from colon cancer at 43, a Cameroonian physician uses the moment to educate young men on warning signs often mistaken for minor ailments, the availability and cost of colonoscopy screening in Cameroon, and the particular vulnerability of Black populations to colorectal cancer.
When I got the news about Chadwick's death, this is what I said to myself, 'this year sha.'
Then again, we usually recommend Colon cancer screening from 40 years but he already got a stage III before 40. Just to tell us alot of things are changing.
And this applies to other non-communicable diseases;these days I see 20-30 year olds with no family history being diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes etc
While we continue to mourn him and applaud him for his strength and service to humanity, remember:
- Not every bloody stool is due to pile.
- Not every episode of diarrhea (posh belle) is treated with flagyl. If alternating with constipation, get it checked.
- Not every long standing abdominal pain is due to yeast infection or typhoid ( some people have been drinking herbs for years because they were told typhoid is stubborn to treat)
- Unintentional weight loss needs to be investigated.
- Colonoscopy ( a camera is sent through your anus to check inside your intestines for any abnormality) is available in Cameroon. It may be a little expensive ranging from 45000-80000 XAF but if recommended by your physician, make an effort to do it.
- The black race have a higher risk of developing colon cancer so you may want to take screening serious.
We need to get more active(sitting for long hours is the new smoking), optimize gut health, eat healthily , screen regularly depending on your risk and above all, let us be kind to one another.
Let me know, have you had a colonoscopy before? How was the experience? I have never done it so let me know what it feels so I improve my counselling and better prepare myself.
#ripchadwickboseman #wakanda #chokecancer
The post was written in August 2020, during global grief over Boseman's sudden death, which became a watershed moment for conversations about cancer screening and disease prevention in Black communities. In Cameroon, where medical literacy and preventive screening remain unevenly distributed, the post speaks to a moment of heightened awareness and a physician's attempt to convert celebrity tragedy into public health action.
The piece remains significant for its refusal to sentimentalize—it uses grief as a platform for practical, unglamorous information: cost figures, specific procedures, risk factors, and the normalization of screening as a tool for young adults. It models how expertise can speak directly to social realities (limited healthcare access, folk remedies, delayed diagnosis) without condescension, and it acknowledges the physiological reality that Black populations face higher colorectal cancer risk—a fact often absent from public health discourse in Anglophone Africa.