Former Super Falcons' striker, James Johnson, has cried out, begging Nigerians to come to his assistance and save him from the trauma of being a hermaphrodite.
He lamented that even at 26, he has yet to experience sexual emotional feelings, let alone having canal knowledge of the opposite sex.
The former Rivers Angels FC of Port Harcourt forward, who was called Iyabo in his days with the Super Falcons, said he felt like committing suicide severally in the past before the then minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) intervened and bankrolled the first phase of the corrective surgery he underwent in the USA, which gulped N8.5 million.
“It is not easy to live with the trauma of being a hermaphrodite, especially if you are not somebody with a strong mind. The ordeal is much; sometimes I think of committing suicide because of the discomfort,” he said.
“You can imagine that while in a team, I could not undress before my colleagues to avoid embarrassing myself. In fact, it took the grace of God for people to cope with my lifestyle before I had my first operation. It is only God that has held my life because I had on several occasions considered taken my life to end the trauma I experience as a hermaphrodite.
“It was when I could no longer endure the situation that I cried out to the world to understand the plight I have been living with right from birth.” James disclosed that he was born with the hormonal imbalance, but the features became pronounced when he was 10.
“My condition started from birth, but it was when I was 10 years old that I noticed that I was somehow different from other normal human beings. Actually, the features are within, but when the discomfort became obvious, I had to raise the alarm and cried out for help.
“I have lived in a very bad situation because if I claim to be a woman, I never menstruated and if I answer a man, I never had any emotional feeling towards the opposite sex neither have I ever had any form of ejaculation as any normal man would have,” the visibly worried James said. “I never had any feeling for sex because the distress of my condition would not give me room for that. I would rather console myself.
“The first corrective surgery was done in the US and I am happy with the way I am now. But I still need another surgery to become a complete man.” The story of the former Jegede Babes FC of Lagos, FCT Queens of Abuja, Plateau United and NEPA FC forward, could make bestseller, as he went down memory lane on the corrective surgery he once underwent and the whopping amount of money he needs for other surgeries that would help him to become a complete man; a state that would enable him to marry his heartthrob, a former Super Falcons' teammate.
“The first surgery was done in the US. The cost was much. I spent $35,000 on the surgery proper besides other expenses, with all totaling N8.5million. But I was too lucky because the then minister of the FCT picked the bill. “My problem now is that I am supposed to undergo other surgeries to finally correct the imbalance in my male hormonal system so that I would become a complete man.
The cost is placed at N7.3 million and I have been running from pillar to post to see how I could raise the fund. “The two proposed surgeries will take about one year to be completed and the doctors said that after undergoing those surgeries, I would begin to celebrate my full conversion to manhood.
“For now, I am still struggling to be a man, and I know that I cannot become fully one until I undergo the proposed surgeries. But I am worried because I cannot boast of having up to N10,000 in my entire bank account. So, I need financial assistance from the good people of Nigeria and beyond to help me raise N7.2 million for those surgeries. All I do now is to fast and pray everyday while waiting for divine intervention on my traumatic situation.”
Even when he had the opportunity of living a better life as a woman and probably spend less on surgeries, the former Crown FC of Oshogbo attacker opted for the male sex. He stressed: “It is true that it would have taken me a lesser amount and stress to become a complete woman, but life does not only stop at becoming one of the best female footballers in the world.
“Although my decision to become a complete man took me to zero level, I decided to follow the prompting of my heart instead of the money and fame that could easily accrue to me as a woman.”
