Nollywood Legend Shan George Opens Up On Spine Injury

Shan George has revealed the harrowing experience of surviving a spine injury last year and how it affected her acting career.

The actress who has been in the Nigerian movie industry since 1997 spoke with Sunday Scoop and disclosed that she was given a 50/50 chance of survival after being diagnosed with the spine disease.

She said it all started when she noticed a swelling in her leg and the situation worsened after she went to the hospital where the ailment left her bedridden for months.

Sometime in late 2018, I had just finished organising the artists that would be on the governor’s band for the Calabar carnival in December. After all the rigorous activities, I suddenly realised that my knee was swollen. I didn’t understand what was going on, so I just attributed it to the carnival stress. I took some drugs and rested for a couple of days expecting to be up and about in a couple of days…

However, by early January, the pain had increased. I kept managing it by using pain killers, but by March, it had become worse. I then started going to hospitals to find out what was wrong. Eight months later, my left leg was almost paralysed. I was already bedridden for some months. That was when my doctor asked me to do a series of tests because I had been on medication since January and I wasn’t getting any better. They wanted to know if there was any disease in me that had been feeding on the medications I was taking.

All the tests came out negative and they had to do an MRI scan. After the scan, they found out I had lumbar spondylosis, which is a disease of the spine. There is no medication for it and they told me it was a surgery that could correct it; it was a 50/50 situation. I had the surgery on August 29, 2019, and it was successful. (As a result of the illness), I didn’t do anything for the whole of 2019.Shan George

Shan stated that she was afraid that the surgery could leave her paralyzed for the rest of her life if not done properly and that the cost ran into millions.

She concluded by saying:

I want to say a very big thank u to some good friends and family who went out of their way to support with d huge surgery bill, I will never forget u for supporting instead of looking for lame heartless reasons and excuses not to help. God bless u all immensely.

The spine illness affected her acting career as she was unable to take roles and this made her jobless at the time.

Shan George is also a singer, producer, and director whose foray into the acting circuit began in the 1997 soap opera Winds of Destiny.

She released her debut studio album in 2010. Titled Dance, it got positive reviews and established her status as a bonafide music artist.

Shan is a graduate of the University of Lagos with a degree in Mass Communication. She is best known for her roles in the movies Outkast and Welcome to Nollywood.