Life with complete spinal cord injury

Brian Muchiri in bed having been involved in a road accident two years ago at Soilo area along Nakuru-Eldoret highway after a tanker hit him and three others leaving two dead. Muchiri who was a procurement student still has hope that one day he will go back to class. (PHOTO: BONIFACE THUKU/ STANDARD)

The dream of a 21-year-old student joining the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) has been shattered after he was involved in a road accident at Soilo area, along Salgaa Nakuru road.

Brian Muchiri, a third year student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKuat) has complete spinal cord injury that has forced him to drop his studies.

The first born in a family of only two siblings cannot move. He is paralysed from the shoulders down to his feet and is dependent on diapers and fitted with a catheter. The only movement he makes is turning his head and wrist that he uses to operate his mobile phone and laptop.

According to Dr Mark Lutomia, an orthopedic surgeon based in Nakuru, Muchiri’s condition is irreversible.

Muchiri was involved in a tragic accident at Ngata Bridge area on February 18, 2014 in an accident involving a trailer and a personal vehicle that left him paralysed. Three of his friends died on the spot.

Narrating his ordeal, Muchiri says he yearned to join KDF as a private student after sitting for his KCSE in 2011. He was, however, advised to undertake a course and later join the force as a cadet.

He enrolled at JKuat where he was doing his studies, which he was forced to stop after the accident. He is however, not giving up.

“It is not easy accepting your life in such a condition. It is very demoralising being assisted to do everything and I want to do a counseling course so that I can work with people involved in road crash to help them recover and live a normal life,” he says adding that he has contacted Mount Kenya University for online learning because he cannot travel.

According to Dr Lutomia, complete spinal cord injury begins with a sudden traumatic blow to the spine that fractures or dislocates the vertebrae and tears into the spinal cord tissue.

He says complete spinal cord injuries are mainly caused during accidents where a patient sustains primary tissue damage that is further tempered with during the rescue mission.

“If primary tissue damage is tampered with, the patient develops secondary tissue damage which are injuries that do not heal hence the condition becomes one that cannot be reversed,” he says.

Patients with complete spinal cord injury undergo spinal cord surgery purely as a rehabilitation measure - not to repair the tissue. Such a surgery can, for example, help a patient be able to sit on a wheel chair.

To prevent spinal cord injury, Dr Lutomia says people on a rescue mission need to have basic knowledge and skills on how to protect the spinal cord. Use of neck brace, for example, helps to lessen swelling, stabilise muscles and save nerves from breaking.

“People who rush to help accident victims should be more careful how they handle them to avoid causing patients secondary damage that results in complete spinal cord damage,” he says.

Most of the accident victims who end up with spinal cord injuries include those who are thrown out of the car, hit by blocks or fall from construction sites.

Spinal cord operations cost at least Sh250,000 in Government hospitals while private hospitals charge at least Sh1 million.