NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE, HOW GOD SAVED PAUL PLAY’S LIFE

How else can one describe the case of someone that passed out on the hospital bed? Someone that urinated blood incessantly and doctors certified hale and hearty? He even saw his late father in this near death experience. How else can one describe it other than to appreciate God for saving the dear life of one of Nigeria ’s most gifted musicians?
He left Nigeria like any other Nigerian act to South-Africa on a mission to shoot his new video, Delicious, which is currently airing on different cable TV stations across the world. He was hale and hearty with no signs of illness till after the shooting of the video before the strange occurrence. He was in the house of Kunle Ayo, a Nigerian Jazz artiste in South-Africa when symptoms of the terminal ailment began manifesting. He went to the toilet and he found it very difficult to urinate. Suddenly, blood started coming out from his urinary organ and he immediately raised alarm to alert Kunle of his predicament. Without wasting much time, they rushed to the hospital.
“Immediately the blood started rushing out of my urinary organ like a loose tap with blood clots, my blood pressure began to rise. I was shocked and anxious because I didn’t understand what was happening to me. All of a sudden, I was feeling week and I couldn’t move. I sat down on the bathroom floor and called Kunle to help me that I didn’t know what was wrong with me. He quickly put me in his car and we headed for the hospital. Inside the car, I was already thinking If I was going to die because I was feeling so weak”, Paul began narrating the sad experience.
When they got to the hospital, he was taken to the Casualty Department and they conducted series of tests on him including blood and urine tests. Even when they told him that they needed to take his urine, it was blood that came out. The doctor immediately sensed that there was something wrong and he did another series of test.
“At this point, I was scared and paranoid. I didn’t understand what was going on anymore. I started communicating with God to save my life because every thought in this world started coming to my head”, Paul continued his experience
When the doctor finally re-appeared, he said there was nothing wrong. He assured him that it was an infection and that led to t the urination of blood. He heaved a sign a relief thanking God that it wasn’t actually a serious problem. The doctor gave him series of drugs to cure the anomaly and they left the hospital believing that the drug would work. He excused himself during the recording session between him and kunle to urinate and he encountered blood again. He called the hospital and the doctors said the blood would continue to come out but assured him that the drug would get rid of it after three days. Three days after, the situation remained the same. At this point, he knew something was really wrong somewhere.
“It was in the night and I went to the hospital again. My blood pressure started rising again. I was loosing my breath and almost fainting. When we got to the hospital, we met another doctor but it was a black man this time around. He was actually not taking it easy on me like the former doctor. He asked me different questions if I had bathed in the river before and all sorts. He messed me up completely. By the time he checked my blood pressure, it was 201. He too conducted another series of tests and the result showed that nothing was wrong with me. He said it was a bladder infection and he asked me to drink lots of water but it kept getting worse. At this point, my heart was beating faster. Am I going to die”? He asked himself rhetorically
They immediately had a change of plan. Since the hospital kept giving them same results, someone suggested that they should try another hospital. At this point, there were not even thinking about the cost anymore but for Paul to get better. Kunle really stood by him. Whenever Paul urinate blood, he mopped up the whole place and took him up again encouraging him saying that he would not die. They went to the private department of a General Hospital and they conducted the same series of tests and they told him there was nothing wrong with him.
“I was given the same set of drugs. They insisted that there was nothing wrong with me but within me I knew all was not well within these two weeks. I was dying inside. I will be in a room and it will look as if it was spinning around. The doctor said I should go and try the drug again for two days. I went through another two days of pains and anxiety. After the two days lapsed, I told Kunle am not getting better that he should call the Nigerian doctor in Pretoria we sent the results of the tests to him. He also insisted that there was nothing wrong with me but when I stood my ground that I was not feeling fine, he directed me to another Nigerian doctor known as Dr. Adebisi”.
When they finally saw Dr. Adebisi, he conducted a sonar test which revealed that Paul had an enlarged kidney. He told him immediately that there was no other solution than to remove it because the tumour was big. It was a cancerous tumour on the top of the kidney.
“It hit me like a rock when I heard surgery. I have never experienced it in my entire life. I told God immediately that it wasn’t His plans for me. Why are all these happening to me?” he queried
The voice of Dr. Adebisi brought him back to reality. He told him it was a big operation but it just had to be done. Paul started calling his loved ones at home in Nigeria including his pastor and told them about his predicament. He called his wife to come over to South-Africa but he didn’t disclose the reason why. He needed support and prayers. After getting everything needed for the operation ready, the doctor conducted another test on him to confirm if the tumour had not spread. The result actually showed that it had not. At this point, he was about to be wheeled into the theatre for the operation. Right there on the bed, he started praying to God making different covenants with Him. His wife was looking at him with obvious fear as he was about to be wheeled into the theatre. She was not even sure if she would see her husband again. Paul was busy praying and bargaining with God asking for a second chance. To the utter most surprise of the people present around him, he started singing his classic song, ‘Mosorire o eleda mi mo dupe o……
“I was scared but at the same time, I believed I was not going to die. Three different pastors called me before the operation and told me that God said I was not going to die. One of them told me boldly and emphatically that God would do the operation himself. While I was afraid of death, I was mourning Micheal Jackson. As the surgeons who were to perform the operation were still introducing themselves to me, I passed out. Before I knew it, I was back to life again. It was like a second but it was actually five hours. The first words that came out of my mouth were glory be to God”. (He broke down in tears)
After the operation, he was wheeled back to the ward. Everything remained normal until the second day when his blood pressure started going down and his body was getting extremely cold.
“At this point, I was passing out. I was loosing grip on life and I told my wife that am going, am going, my body is getting cold. Yeah! I’m dying, call the doctor, call the doctor, call the nurse, etc. Before I knew it, I passed out. I saw a man and my late father in one of my dreams. The man told me consistently that I wouldn’t make it back to Lagos but I kept saying that I would make it. He said that I should forget about those intercessions on my behalf that I was still not going to make it back to Lagos . My late father then appeared and told me that if I showed my face now, God would not be happy. That simply meant I was going to hell. It was the rush of oxygen in my nose that brought me back to life”.
During this emotion laden interview, Paul recalled that the occurrences started when he began having some funny dreams. Someone would give him water in the dream and stand in front of him insisting he must drink it.
“Some people might call these mere hallucinations, but it was real. My mouth would be widely opened to drink the water then I would suddenly wake up. Sometimes they would bring food for me in the dream to eat”, he recalled.
After the successful operation, the doctor told him that he needed to take the ICU stating that he reacted to some kind of infection which might have been there before the operation but reared its head again after the operation. There was blood transfusion because he had lost lots of blood including medication for two days.
He called his pastor as usual and told him what he was going through and as expected, prayers commenced again in earnest. He also instructed his manager to put it on the free social networking website; facebook so that his fans could also pray for him because he needed more prayers. Strange things were happening to him while he was recovering. The physiotherapist also came and told him he needed to work on his lungs so that it could start functioning normally again. Anything might have happened to it during the operation because they too were not ready to take any chances. During this period, he couldn’t move his body. They bathed him for two days on the bed. The physiotherapist who was coming everyday to work on his lungs encouraged him to stand up the third day and he did.
When he taught everything was okay, the doctor came to him again and told him that there was a problem. What problem again he queried? This time, it was his blood level. His blood was not building. He picked his phone again and called his pastors to pray for him that he his blood level was low. After that, he picked up his bible and he began to read and pray. He said there was a particular white lady that was looking at him as he was praying probably wondering what was wrong with him. Paul described her as one on the white folks that didn’t believe in Christianity.
“I hear about spiritual attacks here and there but this was my very first experience. I really appreciate God for using that moment to reveal his mighty power to me. One morning, the doctor came to me and told me that my blood level was now perfect. I was happy and gave praises to the lord. The lord used that opportunity to reveal to me that there is indeed no friend like him”
During his trying period, Paul said those he thought were his very good friends deserted him. They stopped picking his calls. He was surprised because these were the same people he spent nights together with in their different houses. In all, some friends and good loving Nigerians still stood by him. He was full of thanks to them and all his fans that prayed for him.
“My predicament allowed me to see clearly who my friends are. I can now remove the shaft from the wheat. People who were not even so close to me were very supportive. I just want to use this opportunity to thank all Nigerians that prayed for me and those who stood by me during the incident. I’m grateful to all of them. It was because of their love that I’m still alive”
Somebody later called me from Nigeria and said that a particular newspaper reported that I was down with cancer in South-Africa. I was surprised. I wondered how the story leaked to the press. But I got to understand that a golden fish can’t hide. What I was actually happy about then was that the operation was already concluded before the rumour spread in the papers.
One of the vows he made with God is to release a gospel album every year to the glory of his holy name. He said he doesn’t care if it sells or not. He even composed a gospel song on his hospital bed which is the first track to be recorded on the gospel album coming out before the end of the year.
“I actually told God to give me a second chance. While discussing with him, I reminded him to the popular soccer game where there are first and second halves. I then told him that I needed to play the second half of my life after all I’m Paul Play. I told him I needed to play again”.
Some of the lessons he learnt from these near death experience is that nothing is forever and that salvation can’t be preached only on the pulpits. “If you want to preach salvation, look for those who have near death experiences. If the person shares his experience with them, they will be able to decide if they want to go to heaven or hell”, Paul said. The thought that he would go to hell if he died scared the life out of him. He has now made up his mind to stick with God in any situation he may find himself.
“Whether am rich or poor, happy or sad, I have made up my mind to always seek the face of the lord. The bible says that; what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and looses his soul. This life we are living is not real. We are only passing through it. This life is just a bus stop. People might call it stupid but this is the way I see life now. And most importantly, there is no friend like God. While on the hospital bed, a tall man sat on my bed. He was as tall as heaven. His foot was on the ground and his head was touching heaven. A bright light on his head brightened the whole environment. He was shining. He didn’t talk but he was beckoning to me to stand up. God! I saw Him. I saw Him. He is real. God is real.
The testimony of Paul Play is such a mind blowing one capable of bringing anyone close to tears. His trip to South Africa was to shoot a music video and the unexpected happened. He said his new found love won’t in any way disturb his musical career. Since he is an R&B artiste, he can continue with his love songs. After all, we all value love.