Romeo Dallaire now recovered from severe infection

Romeo Dallaire is ready to return to public life again this fall after a serious health scare forced the retired lieutenant-general to postpone his cross-country book tour in March.

“With the love of (my wife) and her keeping an eye on me and all the tests, I was very thankful for all the support I got,” Dallaire said.

In an exclusive interview with CTV’s Power Play with Vassy Kapelos, Dallaire explains he contracted pneumonia nearly seven months ago, which led to discovery of a mass on his organs.

After months of tests and worsening symptoms, doctors found he had been carrying a lingering infection he contracted while on a 1992 mission in Cambodia. Antibiotics have since cured him.

“They had to do some some pretty heavy intravenous work, and they ultimately killed (the infection) because it was affecting my prostate and kidneys,” Dallaire told Kapelos. “Sometime stuff can linger a long, long time, but now all that is all cleared up.”

Dallaire famously led a UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda in 1994 and has become a devoted international humanitarian icon and outspoken advocate for human rights. Dallaire’s new book, The Peace: A Warrior’s Journey, explores the past, present and future of war through the prism of his own life.

Dallaire will visit book fairs and events in Montreal and Ottawa to promote his book, alongside visiting Ukraine to speak to soldiers and families on the front line, this fall. He will also be rescheduling his book tour soon.

You can watch CTV Power Play’s full interview with Retired Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire at the top of this article