Tag: Driver

• Former Students Union activist Chris Nwachukwu narrates ordeal in and out of hospitals

• Needs N7 million for ninth surgery overseas

For Chris Ahamefula Nwachukwu, 53, former Students Union activist, human rights lawyer and pastor, the date, December 15, 2018, will continue to resonate, albeit for a not so memorable incident, and for the fact that the impact of that incident has continued to dog him, in spite of individual, family and collective efforts of friends to make it go away.

It was a ghastly auto crash involving his vehicle and another vehicle, whose driver, driving against traffic (one-way) suddenly emerged on high speed on the opposite direction, giving them little chance of escape. As bad as the incident has turned out, he nevertheless had room for gratitude, as he, sitting in front, with the car driver miraculously survived, while the other two passengers, a couple at the back seat, as he later found out, died in the hospital, where they were rushed to.

Since then, he has been literally in and out of hospitals, undergoing surgeries and suffering relapses that have stalled any serious recovery and condemned him to a wheelchair and at the mercy of others. struggling to get back on his feet. At the moment, he is completely demobilised and in need of another surgery, preferably in India or the United Kingdom.

“I was coming from Warri to Asaba,” he began on phone from his sick bed in Port Harcourt. “At Osisa Junction close to Ogwachukwu, a man driving on high speed against traffic (on one-way) with his family, emerged suddenly on our lane. Because of the suddenness and speed, and the fact that cars were also on high speed on our right, we could not immediately turn left or right to avoid him. I took in everything because I was in the front seat of the car. Somehow, God helped us and we saw an opening. As the driver tried to free our car through the opening, his car hit us, forcing his cars off the road and capsizing, while ours suffered burst tyres which paralysed our vehicle.

“Unfortunately, when people rushed to help, they busied themselves trying to upturn the car to sit upright, which was an error, as it caused the car to burst into flame, entrapping and consuming the whole family. Seeing what was happening from my position, I tried to get out; I didn’t know that my hips had dislocated; when I tried and couldn’t, I then started shouting for help, because I was afraid the fire from the burning car could catch up with ours. So some people rushed and got me out of the car. Then the police came and evacuated us to a nearby hospital, where they gave us First Aid. Later my friend came and carried me to Owerri, from where I was taken to my hometown, Ihia in Isialangwa North Local Government Area, Abia State. Then of course, we didn’t know it was so serious; so we started medication, called in local bone setters, who kept on doing what they knew without any improvement. Soon after, I was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Umuahia; but they could not tell me what was wrong. They couldn’t factor why I was unable to walk. They would tell me to go home, come back in a week’s time; I would stay a week, go to see them and they would again tell me to go and come back in another week.”

Shabby, hostile hospital staff

“When we did an x-ray, it said it was lumber, which was incorrect. I put this to the attitude of the x-ray man. He was very aggressive, very hostile, very unfriendly… Frankly, if not for my condition, I would have given him a piece of my mind. He was so disrespectful. And at the end of the day, he could only come up with what turned out a wrong diagnosis. They took me to the Orthopedic department; again, those ones could not factor how it could be lumber. We kept going back and forth until two months passed. Finally, one day we went again and they were going to tell us to go and come back again, when, thankfully, thankfully, the head of the department he came out and told them ‘no’, that they could not close until they had attended to all patients on ground. He told them ‘Yes you’re closing at 2pm but any patient who came in before 2pm must be attended to. That was how I was attended to on that day. He also insisted on seeing him himself. He looked at the x-ray result and said, ‘no’, that they should go and check my hips. He said they should do another x-ray and concentrate on my hips. That was how they now discovered that my two hips had dislocated.

“So it took them two months to identify the real problem; two months of hostility and aggression.  It was as if you’re coming to disturb them or give them some other assignment other than what they were employed for. From what I saw there, it is a consistent pattern in Southeast hospitals. Anyway, following the discovery, they now referred me to Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, where they told me I needed to do an implant because the bone had died due to the long time it took to get the proper diagnoses. They said if they had seen it on time, they would just have pushed it back in place. They said I needed an implant on each hip and that each would cost me N2.5million, totaling N5million. Meanwhile, this was a time when I didn’t have up to N30,000 in my bank accounts. So my classmates at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria heard it and within two day, raised the sum of N350,000 for me. I couldn’t believe it and I cried. (At this point, he gets emotional and started crying again.) Their response now gave me the idea to put an appeal for help on my Facebook page. I’m Rev. Barrister Chris Nwachukwu on Facebook. By the way I’m also a pastor. The response from my Facebook post shocked me! Within two weeks, people had raised well over N4milion for me.”

Would that be a testimony to his good character and popularity?

“I’d just say it was God, because I was so surprised at the way people responded. I’m a lawyer and human rights activist. I actually attended two universities. First was the University of Ilorin, where I was PRO of the students’ union in 1992. We led protests, had issues with the authorities and about five of us were expelled. I had to retake JAMB to gain admission into Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. So when students of Unilorin who knew me heard it, they went wild- even the ones in the UK and all over the world. Then my contemporaries at ABU also started sending money. That was how we raised the money. But the Orthopedic hospital said I had to pay N5million for the two hips. They also suggested that I paid N2,500 for them to do one hip; but I asked where they expected me to get the money to do the second one. So I kept delaying. While at it, my friend and classmates in Abuja, who worked with the Federal Capital Development Authority said his office was in partnership with Garki Hospital and that as a member of the board, he spoke to a senior personnel of the orthopaedic section after a meeting, who told him N2.5 m could even do both hips. I asked if he was sure and he said yes. I said okay, so I chartered a vehicle all the way to Abuja. We got to Garki Hospital and the surgery was promptly done. It turned out that Garki Hospital was much more expensive than even the Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, but they were ready to collect whatever I had and do the surgeries, pending when I could raise the money.

In the end, I went through seven surgeries at Garki Hospital. They brought an expert, Dr Awoniyi, who was Head of Orthopaedic at Madala Hospital up North there because they said the case was severe. He did the two hips. By this time, we had spent millions of Naira. This was June 2019. It was a successful exercise, but some months after, the left hip pulled out and I had to go back for another surgery. We spent around N2million this second time. I spent two months in the hospital. Take note that the hospital bed per day was N8.000; even the drugs were very expensive.

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I left Abuja finally on the 4th of October, 2019, with my wife, for Lagos. She was alive then. She is late now. She passed November 13, 2023 at LUTH. You could say it was the pressure of the whole travail because she was the one looking after me, until she suddenly took ill.

After the second operation, I had begun to practise walking again, using a walker.

Unfortunately, that same year – December 2019, I wanted to defecate on a Sunday, and as I bent to sit on the toilet seat, I heard a creaking sound on the same leg, and that was how it shifted again. I was, however, lucky that it only shifted this time, unlike the first time, when it pulled out.

Need N7million for another surgery in overseas

So now, I need to go back for correction but I do not have any money. The kind of money they’re calling, I, sincerely, do not have. And I don’t even know how I can go back and start appealing to people yet again. So since that 2019, the thing has been pulling and I’m now in a situation where I can’t even move. Not even from my bedroom to the parlour; except on a wheelchair or I am carried. I am completely demobilized. Even using a walker is completely out of it. I have consulted surgeons; they told me there is something they can do here in Nigeria; one of them even gave us quotation; but somewhere down the line, he called me aside and said the injuries are quite bad. He advised me that to get very sure result, I should consider going to India or London. He said it is not as if our doctors are not good, but that my situation needs real equipment, which may not be here in Nigeria.

“An Indian hospital I contacted has given me an estimate of about 5,000 pounds, which translates to about N7million, and they gave us their word that I will be okay. I pray it turns out so. But first, I have to raise the money, which at the moment is out of my reach.”

Is he too embarrassed to appeal for help again?

“The truth is I am no longer embarrassed. A dead body does not ask about who would bury it. I have come to a point where I need to go public again. I know people, friends, family and even those who never knew me have contributed since this problem happened, but I am in a situation where I need their help again. I am appealing to my friends, family and well-meaning Nigerians to come to my aid; hopefully this would be the last time. This is so that I do not have to spend the rest of my life demobilised and in pains.

“For those who want to make their donations, the account details are: Nwachukwu Ahamefula Chris, Fidelity Bank, Account number: 6013777536.