By Brian Okoth
Tanzanian musician Professor Jay is alive today, in what many describe as miraculous healing from a disease that had run him down.
For 462 days — that is one-year-and-three-months — the 48-year-old artiste was confined to hospital bed, battling a severe kidney problem.
After his discharge from hospital, he released a song in November 2023, expressing gratitude to God for his healing.
In the song titled "462 Days", Professor Jay, whose real name is Joseph Haule, recounts his resilient fight during ailment.
In the nearly 8-minute song, he raps: "I have been through a lot in the 462 days I spent in bed. I have to thank God for keeping me alive. I also thank my fellow Tanzanians for their prayers and donations."
Professor Jay reveals that during that period, there were times he relied on ventilation machine to breathe, his lungs were full of water, his kidneys were not functioning, and his heart would beat at a slower rate.
On some occasions, his blood pressure would be abnormally high. He also underwent a throat surgery during his regular dialysis.
Professor Jay's ailment was first publicly revealed in early 2022, when his wife Grace Mgonjo said in a radio interview that the artiste had been hospitalised in Tanzania's commercial city Dar es Salaam.
Amid mounting financial pressure, the musician's friends made a public appeal for funds in February 2022.
At the time, Professor Jay's fellow rapper AY said the patient's treatment was costing at least 4 million Tanzanian shillings, an equivalent of 1,500 US dollars, per week.
Immediately after the appeal for funds was made, Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu offered to finance Professor Jay's medical treatment — both in Tanzania and outside the country.
In May 2023, the entertainer shared a message on his social media pages thanking President Suluhu for catering for his medical treatment.
In September 2024, a healthier Professor Jay posted a recorded video clip showing hospital staff members assisting him to walk. In the viral video clip, the then frail-musician was having difficulty moving in his wheel walker.
Many of his fans said it was a "great miracle" that the artiste had come out of such a difficult medical situation.
Recent video and pictures of the musician show a healthier person, who appreciates getting another chance at life.
Professor Jay is a Swahili hip-hop artiste, who shot to fame in Tanzania and the larger East African region in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He has won several awards for his hit songs such as "Nikusaidiaje", "Zali la Mentali", "Hapo Vipi", and "Ndivyo Sivyo", among others.
In 2015, Professor Jay successfully ran for parliament, winning the Mikumi constituency seat. The constituency is in Morogoro region in eastern Tanzania.
Jay, who ran on the opposition CHADEMA party ticket, got slightly over 32,000 votes to defeat the ruling party's candidate, who got slightly over 30,000 votes.
In October 2020, he failed to defend his seat on CHADEMA ticket, losing out to a CCM party candidate. Jay got slightly over 17,000 votes against the winner's 31,000 votes.
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