Medicine? Bah! SA amateur golfer beats cancer through traditional foods

It’s already been a very good two days on the golf course for Capetonian Mohamed Suliman in the BMW Golf Cup International World Final at Fancourt but it’s remarkable just in itself that the 52-year-old is even playing golf let alone representing his country in the largest amateur club tournament in the world.

That’s because less than four years ago, Suliman was in a wheelchair suffering from cancer.

The bones in his pelvis had been eroded away by the illness and, after half-a-dozen chemotherapy sessions, his prognosis was poor.

“I overheard the doctor saying to my wife that he just didn’t know what to do, so I decided there and then that I would fight it myself. I told the hospital to discharge me, went home and threw away all my medication. I started eating apricot seeds, garlic, turmeric, taking cannabis oil. And I didn’t allow any negativity around me,” Suliman told The Citizen.

That was in 2016 and since then Suliman has not only beaten the dreaded disease but returned to golf and brought his handicap back down to 13, just one off where he was at his peak.

He also had two back operations before cancer struck.

Suliman joined more than 100 000 other amateur golfers in nearly 50 countries in entering the BMW tournament at their local club, winning at Westlake Golf Club in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.

He initially wasn’t aware of exactly what he had won and how far-reaching the qualification process was.

He then finished in the top-three at the regional finals before winning the B Division of the national final at Sun City in January, earning him a place in the 26^th edition of the international final at Fancourt.

And Suliman helped Team South Africa, also comprising Jannie van Breda of Boschenmeer Golf Estate in Paarl and Barbs Cochrane from Cotswold Downs in Hillcrest, into the lead after the first round of the BMW Golf Cup International World Final.

Thursday was not quite as successful for the hosts, but South Africa will still go into Friday’s final round in second place, 12 points behind Taiwan.

Suliman was tied fourth in the B Section after the first round with 35 points, but struggled with a sore hip on Thursday, getting 31 points to slip into a tie for sixth.

But when one wonders if they are ever going to walk again, even just playing 15 minutes of golf is a miraculous treat and Suliman has been wearing a broad grin come bogey or birdie at Fancourt.

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