The final illness of Tooro’s late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV has raised difficult questions about the challenges of diagnosing rare and aggressive diseases after his family revealed that he spent more than a year seeking medical attention before the cancer was finally identified.
Speaking during the King’s funeral service at St John’s Cathedral in Fort Portal City on September 12, Princess Royal Ruth Nsemere Komuntale said her younger brother had repeatedly sought medical attention in Uganda because of persistent pain.
According to Komuntale’s account, Oyo’s symptoms were initially associated with less serious conditions, including ulcers and the effects of strenuous gym training. He was reportedly advised to undergo physiotherapy as doctors attempted to establish the source of his pain.
“Before his diagnosis he had spent more than a year seeking medical evaluations here in Uganda for the different pains he was experiencing,” Komuntale said during her tribute.
She added that the King was not receiving the correct diagnosis during his earlier medical visits.
“Sadly he was not getting the correct diagnosis, he was told that his pain was likely related to strenuous exercises or ulcers and was advised to undergo physiotherapy,” she said.
The family’s account indicates that the problem was not a lack of access to medical attention. Instead, Oyo was reportedly seeking treatment while the underlying disease remained undetected.
The King is said to have begun experiencing back and rib pain around the middle of 2025. He reportedly sought treatment at a hospital in Kampala, where an X-ray did not establish the cause of the pain.
When the pain persisted, he underwent physiotherapy, but his condition reportedly failed to improve.
An orthopaedic specialist later recommended an MRI scan, which was carried out at another medical facility in Kampala. According to the account presented by his sister, the scan also failed to reveal the underlying disease.
The major breakthrough came after Oyo travelled to Nairobi for further medical assessment at Aga Khan Hospital. More advanced investigations, including a PET scan, eventually revealed that he was suffering from angiosarcoma, a rare and highly aggressive form of cancer.
By the time the disease was identified, it had reportedly already spread to several organs.
The diagnosis dramatically changed the King’s medical journey. Oyo subsequently received specialised treatment outside Uganda, including in Germany and later in the United States.
At one point, his family reportedly saw signs of improvement after treatment began. Komuntale said the cancer cells had reduced significantly and that Oyo regained some of his energy.
However, the improvement did not last.
Komuntale said Oyo’s condition took a serious turn in July 2026, with the disease continuing to take a toll on his body despite the treatment he had received.
The case has since raised questions about the difficulties doctors can face when dealing with rare cancers whose early symptoms may resemble those of more common illnesses.
Angiosarcoma can be particularly difficult to identify because its symptoms can vary depending on the part of the body affected. This can make early diagnosis challenging, especially when the initial symptoms appear unrelated to cancer.
Importantly, the account given by the royal family does not by itself establish that any particular Ugandan doctor or hospital committed malpractice. It documents, however, a prolonged period during which Oyo sought medical attention without the underlying cancer being identified.
His experience has consequently become a point of discussion about the importance of investigating persistent and unexplained symptoms, particularly when initial treatment does not produce improvement.
King Oyo died in the United States on August 27, 2026, aged 34, after reigning over Tooro for more than three decades.
His death brought an end to the reign of a monarch who ascended the Tooro throne as a three-year-old child and became one of Uganda’s most prominent traditional leaders.
