Taking family misfortune stoically

In August 1998, SUSAN WANGECI’S husband was involved in a road accident that left him wheelchair-bound. Susan tells KIUNDU WAWERU of the struggle of learning to adjust to their new-found circumstances

She had always been full of life and everyone, especially the youth at the Thamanda SDA church in Muguga, Kikuyu, basked in her wit and wisdom.

Susan was the youth sponsor, church secretary and treasurer and she went through her work with great dedication and humour.

Grace Wambui, a youth member at the church, remembers receiving news that devastated the whole church. Susan’s husband, Andrew Kimani, also a devout church member, had been involved in a road accident.

As Kimani recuperated at the Nairobi Hospital, it emerged that he had injured his spine and he would be in a wheelchair, needing round-the-clock care.

Great strength

People thought they had seen the last public appearance of the Kimanis. However, not many months later, the couple bounced back with bright smiles on their faces. In fact, during the days Kimani was in hospital, Susan never relinquished her church duties, which was symbolic of her spirit that has kept her family going despite the odds.

More than a decade later, Kimani, looking fondly at his wife, says her great strength has seen them make it all these years.

Susan narrates: "It was the morning of August 3, 1998. Kimani and I left together for work in the morning and parted ways in Nairobi."

Kimani was going to Kitui on a job assignment with Adra, the non-governmental organisation he worked with.

Shortly after, Susan was at her place of work at the SDA Dental Services near the Integrity Centre. The day progressed smoothly but Susan, a dental assistant at the clinic, later realised that people were talking in whispers. Whenever she appeared, they would hush up and avoid eye contact.

During lunch, she was informed she had a guest. The guest was Kimani’s friend who broke the news of an accident in Kitui. The matatu Kimani had been traveling in had rolled over and Kimani had been rushed to Kitui District Hospital. At that moment, he was being airlifted to Nairobi.

Kimani arrived at the Nairobi Hospital at about 7pm and was immediately wheeled to the operating theatre. He was a "sea of pipes" but mercifully, he responded to his wife. Susan, who had been a bundle of nerves, relaxed some.

Everyday at 6am, Susan would be at the hospital.

A few days later, she took her two sons, Martin Njoroge and Gatimu, to visit their father in hospital.

They were being driven there by an uncle in a pickup truck when a few kilometres from their home, they rammed into the back of a trailer. Shaken, they were rushed to the Kikuyu Hospital and fortunately escaped with minor injuries. They didn’t mention a word of this to their father.

All this while, Susan thought that it was a matter of time until her husband got well and was discharged.

But one day, a doctor pulled her aside and told her that her husband would never be able to walk again.

In the meantime, Kimani was in deep pain but he took the news positively. After a while, he was taken to The Spinal Injury Hospital and then he decided to go recuperate at his home.

Doctors warned that his presence in the home would bring stress to the family because of the adjustments they had to make. Luckily, the couple was in the process of constructing their house and it was redesigned to make it wheelchair-friendly.

Now, Kimani had to bathed, fed and taken to the toilet. Susan’s two months leave was ending and she contemplated quitting work. But with one pay check gone and Kimani needing medication, Susan had to go back to work. She employed house helps who soon left saying that taking care of Kimani was too much work.

But Susan could never desert her family. She would wake up early, prepare Kimani’s breakfast and lunch and leave it by his bedside. Luckily, Kimani is independent and painfully, over time, he re-learnt to do basic chores by himself.

However, most days for the last ten years, Kimani is rocked in pain where he does not sleep, talk or eat. Whenever this happens, Susan is also affected and most days she goes to work without having slept a wink.

"But I never let it show while I am at work," she says stoically.

In the early days, it was too much for Susan that at some point she was admitted to hospital with stress. But now she has learnt to take one day at a time.

In 2009, Kimani was admitted in the hospital for a urinary tract infection, which recurs regularly causing him fevers. In addition, for spending most of his time in the wheel chair, he gets painful bedsores and when this happens, he lays face down until he heals.

"There is a special air filled cushion that can help him and we cannot get it locally. The ones we get wear off very fast," says Susan.

What is remarkable about the couple is that they never complain.

"It is about accepting what life throws your way," says Susan.