Family's pain after son injured during play slips into coma

Samuel Mumo, 9 years old, who has been in a coma for one month with his parents Felister Muthoka and Adam Maleve in a photo taken on 14th October 2015. (PHOTO:WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/ STANDARD)

When he tripped on the staircase and fell four floors down, this marked the beginning of a long, agonising journey for the Maleve family.

Nine-year-old Samuel Mumo was playing with his friends in a four-storey building in Kayole six weeks ago when he missed a step injuring his head.

According to his father Adam Maleve, on September 12, Sam went to call his friend for their usual weekend play and as he descended the stairs, he fell.

"His friend rushed to the house screaming that Sam had been injured and when we got to the scene, a Good Samaritan had taken him to a nearby clinic where they pronounced that he was too critical thus was referred to Mama Lucy Hospital," said Mr Maleve who is a Standard Group employee.

The hospital staff was on strike prompting the ambulance team to take Sam to Mater Hospital for treatment of the swollen head and broken leg.

"He was admitted to the critical care unit for a month and was under assisted breathing," said Maleve.

When The Standard visited Sam yesterday, he had shown some improvement and had been transferred to the high dependency unit and though still unconscious, his family believes that he will be back on his feet.

"When you call his name, he opens one eye momentarily before he slips back to sleep," his father said adding that the doctors had informed him that though slow, the progress was promising.

He is a bright boy who tops his class, Maleve said of his son, a Standard Three pupil at Stanjo Silver Bridge Academy in Kayole.

He said Sam's five-year-old twin brothers ask about his whereabouts daily.

But with each day that passes in hospital, his family worries as he receives specialised treatment with the bill continuing to accumulate and is now estimated at about Sh3.5 million.

The medical insurer has committed to pay Sh1.2 million and the family now asks for support through this phone number: 0722277878.

"Sam is a happy child and as we watch his recovery, we seek ways to raise the balance," said the father.