Money Can’t Buy Happiness, But It Can Buy Time – TG Omori Opens Up On Battle With Kidney Failure 

Popular Nigerian music video director ThankGod Omori, better known as TG Omori, has opened up about his ongoing battle with kidney failure and the financial burden of treatment.

Speaking on the Afropolitan podcast, he revealed that he has been receiving treatment at a private hospital in Ikoyi for over six months, with only a few industry colleagues, including Olamide, Fireboy DML, Asake, Rema, Young Jonn, and Zlatan Ibile, aware of his condition.

Omori disclosed that the search for a kidney donor lasted nine months. He recounted that after a mismatch, his brother donated a kidney, but his body rejected the transplant. He added that the doctors tried again, but it was not responding, and his brother now has to live with only one kidney.

He also highlighted the crippling cost of dialysis, explaining that sessions can range from N50,000 to N200,000 depending on the facility, and patients sometimes need three sessions a week, which amounts to about N500,000 weekly. He noted that if a patient waits a year for a transplant while on dialysis, the bill can reach about N31 million, including tests and medications.

According to him, even someone earning N1 million monthly cannot afford it alone, emphasising that one needs money, as well as people with money, to support them. He concluded that while money cannot buy happiness, it can buy time.

He said:
"After a mismatch, my brother donated, only for my body to reject the transplant. The doctor tried again, but it wasn't responding, and my brother still has to live with only one kidney."

"Money is actually important because I can't lie to you; we've spent a lot of crázy money. Dialysis regularly is like 70k; some hospitals charge 50k per session. But where I used to do mine, it was around 150 to 200k because it's exclusive. It's like a private kind of facility."

"So sometimes you need three dialysis sessions in a week. So that's about 500k a week. So a minimum-wage person is dead already after one session."

"So now, you're waiting a year for a transplant. And for that one year, you have to be on dialysis for a year, so that's 500k. That's if you don't have any complications, because sometimes they have to run tests and give you medications. So sometimes, your bill might hit 200k per session. So in a week, you're probably looking at 600k; if you calculate that in a year, it's 31 million."

"So automatically, if your salary is even one million naira a month, it can't serve you. You know, it's crázy. So you actually have to have money, not just money; you have to have people who have money also to support you."

"So if you look at things like that, you understand that even though money can't buy happiness, money can still buy some time."

Recall that TG Omori shed light on his battle with kidney failure in 2024. The music video director revealed that he received a kidney donation from his brother, yet it failed.