NOLLYWOOD actor Leo Mezie is full of thanks to Nigerians, most especially Apostle Suleiman Johnson of Omega Fire Ministries for joining hands together to donate towards saving his life. Mezie who survived an advanced stage of kidney disease said his battle with the disease and consequent victory made him to realize that indeed, “There is God, and He works in a miraculous way”. Leo returned to the country from the UK last week after months of medical sojourn, very hale and hearty. News broke around July that the popular actor was down with advanced stage of kidney disease and required over 60, 000 pounds to carry out a transplant. “I was devastated, I was broken but God decided to give me a second chance, to serve him.” “I had made up my mind that I was going to die, I had began to make preparations because from research I knew that people live a maximum of 10 years after a transplant, some even less than that. But my wife told me I should not give up, she gave me strength to fight on. And when my friend, Mrs. Juliet Bumah, Saturday Editor of The Telegraph came to my house in company of other media friends; that was when they told me they had to let the world know about my plight because I would not be able to shoulder the medical bills alone. Then I was already spending about 170, 000 weekly on dialysis aside monies I was paying to see consultants weekly too. I agreed with them, the first picture of me sitting in the hospital bed that went viral was released by Juliet who we all call ‘Supawoman’.”
The way Nigerians responded to the ‘Save Leo Mezie’ appeal according to the actor overwhelmed him. “I never knew I was this loved by Nigerians, I never knew God also loved me this much.” Mezie at the formal media chat held at celebrity restaurant, O’jez, on Tuesday to announce his return back to Nigeria displayed public gratitude to Apostle Suleiman Johnson. “I want to at this point thank Apostle Suleiman Johnson for all what he did for me. I have never met him before I took ill but as soon he heard the news, he contacted me and asked that we stopped all further public appeal for fund. He then took over all my medical bills, I mean every of it through my stay in the UK. I did not lack anything. I thank God for using Apostle Suleiman Johnson to save me from death.” He cleared the air on the issue of kidney transplant. “I want to clear the air here, I did not undergo a kidney transplant, although that was what the doctors in the UK said, but on my arrival, God did His work and I was only treated effectively. I will call what happened a miracle because tests revealed that my kidneys were badly damaged and the only solution was a transplant, but after weeks of treatment, the doctors were even shocked that they were able to revive my kidneys. I give God all the glory.”