Yoruba Nollywood actor Olayemi Jimoh, popularly known as Yemkem, has revealed that he almost became paralysed after playing a stroke patient in a movie, only to wake up with similar symptoms in real life.
He made the disclosure in a recent interview on Agbaletu TV, saying the scare started about two years ago after he returned from a film location in Itoko, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He said he left Sisi Quadri and Okele at home that night and came back looking like a different man.
“What I am talking about is from about two years ago. I went to a movie location and came back. I left Sisi Quadri and Okele at home then. I came back from that location in Itoko, Abeokuta, that night. My words were going out fast, my legs were shaking, and my mouth was moving sideways. The children asked what happened to me. That’s how I got into it,” he said.
The movie, he said, was titled Jogodi. In the story, his character suffered a stroke at the end. When he got home, the body he had just used on set began to betray him.
“I had just shot a movie at that time. The title was ‘Jogodi’. At the end of the movie, my character had a stroke. By the time I got home, I noticed my legs were shaking; people told me not to downplay the situation. They told me it was not ordinary.”
Those around him pushed him to see a doctor. The physician told him to lose body fat, prescribed drugs, and placed him on a strict diet. Yemkem said the bill hit him while he was still trying to keep a roof over his family.
“The doctor asked me to reduce the fat in my body. He wrote some drugs for me. I gave him N450,000. As I was sick, I was still paying house rent. There were specific foods I was to eat.”
He first tried to hide the condition. When it got worse, he went public and sold what he could, including his car. He also sought traditional care.
“I did not want to make it public then, but I eventually did. There was this brother of mine who was acting that assisted me. That man and another person helped me find a solution. When the situation became tense, I had to sell my car for treatment. I spent all the money I had on it. I was seeking traditional medical help. I still feel pain in my hands and legs.”
One detail from that search for a cure was especially startling.
“I did so many things. I got an incision done by the teeth of a cobra.”
The actor, known for roles in Yoruba-language films and credited on productions such as Olukoti, said the aftermath is still eating into his daily life. He said money is gone and the house he occupies is no longer secure after the landlord died.
“I no longer have money. The house I am living in now, the landlord died, and the children are already giving us signals to vacate the house. I still fought with a bike man just now. These things make me cry.”