Popular Kenyan musician David Mathenge better known as Nameless has for the first time shared in detail his near brush with death in September 2017.
Speaking to KTN’s Dr Mercy Korir, Nameless disclosed the harrowing experience he went through as he battled subarachnoid haemorrhage. A spontaneous bleeding in the brain.
“I was in a board meeting, it was for PRISK. It was quite an intense board meeting that went on for about five or six hours. Then I started getting weird sensations in my throat. I thought if I drink water or sprite it’ll ease, I felt it creeping into my head. It was like bubbling.
“I started feeling a thumping and people who were in the boardroom were like hey are you ok? I told them I am not feeling good and I need to leave. I walked down the stairs, just in that short time probably like one minute, but by the time I reached the door of my car, I could tell something was totally wrong,” said Nameless.
The Inspire hit maker added that in the next 30 minutes, he had intense pain like no other, life flashed before his eyes and he felt like he was going to die.
“Every time I have been in a near death situation, my first reaction is to say No! I have been on a car accident and in this case, as I found out later, I was saying No! I am not going now! I can’t! I am not ready to go!
“So, I was holding my head like this because I remember it felt like it was going to explode and I could feel it boiling…I was like No! No! No! I am not going, I can’t go,” he explained.
He was rushed to Nairobi hospital by fellow stars Daddy Owen and Nonini but was transferred to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) at Aga Khan University Hospital.
“I was at HDU for 10 days, after the 10 days I was moved to a normal ward. They were like now we have reduced some of the medicine and the blood is reducing. In total, I think I stayed for three weeks.
“The only problem for me, separate from the haemorrhage, is when I lie on the back for long I have intense pain. I have always had an issue with my back.
“Some painkillers were suppressing it and I didn’t realize it but after five days the pain surpassed the one that was already being suppressed. I had to be taken back to theatre. That developed just because of me lying horizontally for too long.”
There, at the hospital, everything that he had held in high regard like career and the unending hustle seemed meaningless and he bemoaned the things he took for granted.
“First it made me realize that sometimes we take things too seriously and life is short.
“You stress about so many things…you know that common saying Bora Uhai? People say it like a joke, but for me, that is really what that learning was but in a different way. Are you alive, are you healthy? That is what is important...
“You don’t realize things are thick until you are in hospital… As long as you are alive, healthy, everything else is just a by the way…” He pointed out.
The singer also highlighted the massive role played by his family and friends as he lay in hospital, “guys came from all over, they were constantly there. For the first 10 days, it was intense, it was worrying and a lot of people came in checking in on me, just being around.
“There was a lot of prayers. Because at that time your connection with God just increases times 10. You realize you plan for things and God has the last say. My kids were not brought until towards the end, so they don’t get scared."
Nameless had to forego the bookings he had made for the peak months of October, November and December that year.
“I was told by the doctor bro you just almost died, forget about work….Then it sank in, that shifted me to just relax, it was high season, I had bookings, I had to tell them no. Let me just enjoy being alive," noted the singer.
The singer hopes by sharing his experience will start conversations across the country on the condition.
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