By Nana Ofori-Atta Oguntola
Dr Titus Odedun and his children - Christopher and Rebecca
Dr Titus Odedun and his children - Christopher and Rebecca
Despite being a surgeon, Dr Titus Odedun felt helpless when he was unable to save the life of his own wife following a diagnosis of a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. The cancer was so small in size it could hardly be felt at diagnosis and could not be treated despite undergoing all available forms of treatment.
It was even more painful seeing his children watch their mother dying at the tender ages of 10 and 12, respectively. Nonetheless, following the inevitable, Titus Odedun made the difficult decision to raise his children himself rather than pass his responsibility to family members or pack them off to boarding school, a decision that necessitated him working part time for a number of years.
“When the Lord gives you a cross to carry, He gives you sufficient energy to do so,” Titus Odedun told me.
The end result of his commitment to his children’s lives was that his son won a scholarship to Merchant Taylor’s School even though he was at least a year younger than anyone else in his year and he then went on to obtain straight A stars in his GCSEs and all As in his five A level subjects gaining admission to study Medicine at Cambridge at a precocious age.
His daughter did no less getting a Harrison Scholarship to the Girls counterpart of Merchant Taylor’s School and straight A grades for A levels , and like her brother, went on to study Medicine at University College, London.
Dr Titus Odedun brought up his children as a single dad after the death of his wife
Dr Titus Odedun brought up his children as a single dad after the death of his wife
In spite of following his passion of performing as DJ simultaneously with his postgraduate studies, his son passed his postgraduate examination ahead of time and is now fully accredited to become a Consultant at the tender age of 34 years.
His daughter is not far behind and has already passed her postgraduate examinations at age 32 and on course for Consultant accreditation at 34 years of age like her brother.
When asked how he had done it, Titus Odedun told me: “Genius is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.”
From age 5, he woke the children up at 5am to put in work. This taught them discipline and hard work. Well it’s clear that it paid off.
It is so unusual for stories of fathers who have successfully raised their children up on their own to be seen in the media. This story of Titus Odedun reminds us they are out there too and they also do a phenomenal job!