‘Gomora’s’ Israel Matseke Zulu opens up about losing his leg to gangrene

After enduring a long and tedious fight with gangrene, actor and television personality Israel Matseke Zulu has lost his leg to the horrible disease.

Speaking to Daily Sun some time in November, the actor said he was forced to bid farewell to his role on Gomora because he was ill, and started feeling ill shortly after he had joined the show.

“The reason I am leaving the show is because I am sick, I started becoming sick shortly after I joined Gomora and I decided to leave the show because I saw it was becoming difficult for me because I can’t walk,” said Matseke Zulu.

The actor recently had an interview with Sunday World, where he opened up about his journey with battling with gangrene, and the tough decisions he had to make prior to his surgery to get his leg amputated.

“After proper medical examination they discovered that I had gangrene in my leg and that there was a terrible infection in it. They advised me to have my left leg amputated because it would end up affecting my kidney or my other leg,” said Israel.

ALSO READ: Israel had to leave ‘Gomora’ because Gangrene ‘crippled’ him

The actor also said he had to quit smoking because the doctors advised that this medical condition could have been brought on by smoking, as he does not suffer from diabetes or high blood pressure, the two main causes of the skin disease.

“What surprised the doctors was that, although this is caused by high blood and sugar diabetes, I don’t have either. They then suspected that it might be smoking. That is why those who believe in witchcraft would say I have been bewitched.

“But I go with what medical scientists said and that is why I quit smoking,” said the former Gaz’lam actor.

Israel also revealed that after agreeing to have his leg amputated, he changed his mind about going through with the surgery a couple of times.

“In fact, I cancelled four times,” said the actor.

Matseke Zulu said that after the surgery it was easy for him to go on with his life as he had accepted his condition.

However, he admitted his brain was prolonging his full recovery, because it sometimes forgets he no longer has a leg, leading to him falling quite a lot.

“I think that contributed to my quick recovery because I don’t ask myself the ‘why me’ question. The only challenge now is to work on my brain because I fall a lot. My brain has not accepted that I don’t have my other leg.

“I would have recovered a long time ago, but because of the falling, it took a bit of time,” said the former Gomora actor.

Israel ended off the interview by promising he will soon reach full recovery, and that viewers will be seeing him back on their screens in due time, as he is awaiting his prosthetic leg.

“It is not like I was playing soccer. I know that in acting people can create a storyline for a person like me. In fact, I got jobs when I was in the hospital.

“So, my fans must expect me to be back once I have received my prosthetic leg in three months,” said Matseke Zulu.