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Mesach Semakula heads to India for treatment of mysterious “leaking” disease

After returning from a hugely successful concert in mid-May, singer Mesach Semakula is processing a trip to India to seek treatment for a strange ailment that he’s lived with for nearly 20 years.
Mesach Semakula
Mesach Semakula

Semakula says he’s trying to take further checks in India and hopes to get answers which have eluded medics in other countries including in the United States.

I'm going to India this time. I have already booked the hospital and they have extended the invitation...I just want to have more checks done,” the 46 year old said in a televised interview on Monday, May 29th.

After the May 19th concert at the Kampala Serena, Semakula says he went to Mengo Hospital and was told that blood vessels in his legs had been damaged and that he might require surgery.

The Njagala nga bwendi singer says, this unknown disease affects his legs, causing them to swell and produce a lot of heat. In some instances, the legs break and start leaking a substance that looks like pure water. 

The disease first worsened in the year 2006. At the time he did his “First Aid” launch at Hotel Africana, he says, he did the entire show in severe pain although nobody ever noticed.

My leg weighed about 18 kgs. I remember I got 8 painkiller injections just to be able to wear my shoes. Getting on the stage, they came carrying me, but we made it look like it was all part of the show; but the legs were actually badly swollen, and leaking water. Every time I left the stage, the shoes were filled with water,” he said.

On seeking medical help in the US, Semakula says he was told that he had an infection whose cause was unknown. 

Around 2016, he returned to the US with his mind made up to get a double amputation. But he says he received lots of medicines to help drain the water, which he took along with local herbs.

Although the pain and swelling has subsided over the years, Mesach says, he still hopes to find out what is ailing him for all these years.

Serious conditions such as cancer, HIV, and organ damage, he says, have so far been ruled out in the numerous tests.

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