Laide Lanre-Badmus, the Principal Partner at Purifoy Seven Drops on Ten Ltd. and founder of Laide Lanre-Badmus (LLB) Foundation Africa, is a woman that had battled life-threatening situations and emerged a survivor. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, she speaks on women’s health, her near death experience and the major lessons her health challenge taught her about life among other issues.
How will you assess the impact of your foundation in one year of its existence?
The experience is been wonderful. We have not done badly in one year and we will keep putting in our best. Unfortunately, we couldn’t celebrate the first anniversary as planned in November.
Why did you cancel the celebration?
I was very sick and I didn’t know. I went for routine medical checkup and it was discovered that I had anemia, they had to conduct a scan to find the cause and they found that I had fibroid; I was already dealing with shortness of blood and I was working in-between, I was working towards the first anniversary of my foundation but it got to a point that I couldn’t handle it anymore because I was bleeding heavily. There were days I would just slump and it had become life-threatening so my gynecologist advised immediate surgery to avoid regrets. That is the reason every activity ceased especially my foundation’s first anniversary and planned outreach. It was an excruciating experience that I don’t even wish for my enemy. But thankfully I went to one of the best hospitals in Abuja and was managed by Doctor Sunday Onuh, one of the best in the profession. The Holy Spirit really took charge, else it would have been another story because it went beyond fibroid.
Did anything else happen?
I was supposed to go for fibroid surgery, Iran series of tests and we were able to pick a date for the second week in December. This was necessary because I was already short of blood; I could say I bled for the better part of 2024. It was God that saved my life because I discovered I was just a walking ghost before the surgery. I was told later that the surgery took longer than necessary because when they opened me up, they found my intestines were already out; they had to first put back my intestines to the rightful position before carrying out the main surgery, it took them more than three and half hours to remove the fibroid and described the process as a difficult myectomy. They told me it was due to the surgery I had in the past; I had ectopic pregnancy twice, that is, pregnancy outside the fallopian tube and I had to remove it through surgery. These past surgeries according to the doctors affected my intestines. What this taught me is that we need to regularly engage in routine medical checks. I didn’t know I will survive because it took time for my bowels to start working; I couldn’t eat for 15 days. I was on strong antibiotics and other medications and I had been managing ulcer for 30 years.
Did you take any step because of fear of death?
I had already called my lawyer before the surgery. I told him the things that I have; those owing me money and he was like I should please stop. You know we see a lot of deaths lately on social media. I was hopeless. In fact I had started begging God for forgiveness. I have had close shave with death before; I once had a major car accident two years ago and my Mercedes Benz was a total write-off. I have been in a plane that crash-landed before.
Did you learn any major lesson from the experience?
Yes, the first thing is that being a single woman has its drawbacks; I realized there is more to life than giving up on having a companion. Because being alone and single had a negative impact on me. I didn’t have anybody around to hold my hands except my workers. No husband, no children. And this is me that had already made up my mind not to marry again or have any serious relationship. But that experience made me realize that God didn’t make mistakes when he instituted marriage. One thing that I’m actually looking forward to now is once I’m totally healed, I want to give relationship another try. If my enemy was to have died that day, it would have been strangers that would have taken whatever it is that I have before they get to talk to my family.
What is your advice for women out there?
I would advise women to marry early if they can; that is one of the regrets I have now because while my mates were settling down, I was more into business and making money. Another thing is for women to constantly go for checkup. I do my own medical checkup every seven months. Women spend a lot on fashion; we spend a whole lot on looking good, let’s take good care of our health too. And use good hospitals. Don’t let us look at the costs.
What is the main challenge faced by women in day-to-day life apart from health?
That is gender discrimination, especially in leadership positions. Thank God the narrative is now changing but there is still a lot to do. We see women as second fiddle in this part of the world. But lately there has been a growing recognition of the importance of women’s representation in leadership roles across various sectors including business, politics and community organizations. You know women in leadership positions can influence policies and workplace cultures to promote gender equity.
and then