Bigyemano battles, reverses cancer in retirement

He settles on a seat and kicks into his life story of the jobs he did for different media houses. He interrupts and briefly interviews the interviewer.

Starting out

 Bigyemano started out as a waiter at the Airport Hotel in Entebbe, a job he had been connected to by one of his childhood friends, Nathan Katwire after they completed O- Level.

Bigyemano says one day some of his guests who liked his services asked him to apply as an air host at the East African Airlines.

“Unfortunately, when I applied the delegate who had recommended me was on leave so I was never shortlisted. I think that was not meant for me though,” he narrates.

However, Bigyemano who had worked with the hotel for more than seven months was always appreciated for his mastery of the English Language. When Public Service advertised for presenters and news anchors at Uganda Television (UTV) and he applied for a job.

“Most of the jobs that were  advertised at that time required Mathematics which I had failed. So when this job came in without the requirement. I knew I would qualify for it and so they gave me the job,” he reminisces.

In the media

In 1989, Bigyemano says he got his first job as a show host and a presenter on UTV. After a three-year stint, he enrolled for a degree in journalism on the mature age entry programme.

“My friends advised me to advance my education and I joined the now Uganda Management Institute (UMI) for a diploma in journalism but shortly after I joined Makerere University. He earned the two qualifications concurrently,” he says.

After his studies, he was given more responsibilities at the station and also got side jobs with other companies where he worked in the communications departments.

His salary was stepped up from Shs550 to about Shs1,185 and he says he took up his seven siblings since he is the first born of  Constantine Bigyemano and Maria Gimeranda.

“I worked at UTV for another three years and by this time I had gained a lot of experience. They had got contacts of many of the government officials with whom I did interviews on radio and I soon became a household name,” he says before adding, “My station manager trusted me with many responsibilities.”

Bigyemano would later get an opportunity to study in London where he got to work in various capacities including working in the ambassador’s office for three years. He was later posted back to Uganda in 1992 to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as head of communication but he is not at liberty to divulge why he quit his job and spent another three years without work.

“It was a devastating time because I was put on a waiting list for a long time but I had to pick myself up and look for opportunities. I got into real estate as one of my side hustles,” he says.

Picking himself up after the time of being sidelined in the government job, Bigyemano went to look for a job at his old work place and he says they gladly gave him the job. He later worked at different media houses hosting political and real life shows. For example, says Gordon Wavamunno, the proprietor of Sanyu TV and later WBS called him for Issues At Hand at WBS, then he worked on Reproduction online at UTV,  Spectrum  on Radio One and he partly  hosted The Capital Gang, a political talk show  on  Capital FM.

Disease creeps in 

After his retirement in 2011, he  ventured into private business concentrating on real estate for the bigger part of his early retirement. 

Four years later, he started feeling discomfort around his pelvic area but went about his work normally until the pain intensified.

“I like exercising, so I knew if I intensified my routine, I would eventually be okay. I would go to the gym in the morning, afternoon and late evening. I was healthy but the pain did not go away until I started feeling difficulty in urinating,” he says.

Bigyemano says he did his first tests to rule out possibilities of cancer but the doctors administered to him some pain killers after they failed to find the main cause of the pain.

In 2018, after the pain had become unbearable, Bigyemano says he went to the Uganda Cancer Institute in Mulago Hospital where he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.

“I started on medication and chemotherapy but there was no change at all. I became too frail to do any more exercise. I went to various doctor friends who gave me medicine. Dr Emmanuel Ssekasanvu administered Zoladex injection. In men, Zoladex is used to treat prostate cancer. It works by reducing the amount of ‘testosterone’ (a hormone) that is produced by  the body,” he says.

Battling cancer

Around late 2019, Bigyemano says his legs started to swell as well as his whole body and he would not move and the doctors informed him that the disease had spread further to other parts of his body which required a possible kidney transplant, so, he was advised to look  for a donor.  

“One morning, I made a random call to Justice Wilson Kwesiga and as a longtime friend, I was just updating him about my health and he gave me a contact of a one David Ssenfuka. Ssenfuka gave me a herbal concoction and I now feel a big difference,” he says.

While meeting him at his home in Bukoto, a city suburb, Justice Kwesiga says he read a Sunday Monitor  story which led him to Ssenfuka who prefers to be called a researcher and now he says many of the people that he connected to him have since become better.

“I wouldn’t want to say much but what you should know is that I trust Mr Ssenfuka’s medicine. I have referred to him more patients who have triumphant stories,” he says.

 Doctor speaks out

Dr Moses Mpairwe, an oncologist at Uganda Cancer Institute Mulago who interacted with Bigyemano’s file says his state had worsened when they met.

He says for instance, that Bigyemano’s total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) had shot to 58 and the free PSA was at 3.18. PSA is a protein made by the prostate gland. The amount of PSA may be higher in men who have prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or infection or inflammation of the prostate. According to medical recommendations this is beyond the normal as figures from the cancer institute are between 0.01 to 4.4 while the free PSA is meant to be between 1.0 and 1.5 ng/ml. After taking the herbal  concoction for two months, Bigyemano’s LMK laboratory results signed off by Dr Susan Nabadda indicate that the total PSA had dropped from 58 to 0.5ng/ml  while the free PSA was 0.010ng/ml.

Another report from Uganda Cancer institute on April 22, 2021 indicated that the total PSA had gone up to 1.01 ng/ml.

“Medically these figures show that Mr Bigyemano’s PSA is within the normal range. This concoction made an impact on him but professionally we have to give the patient another five years before we completely rule out the cancer