“My disability does not define me”

October 2012 is when Jane Wairimu’s life changed. Jane, who worked for a cargo company at the time, was the passenger in the company delivery van, sitting in the Mariakani traffic on Mombasa road.

She had taken a nap to while away the time when she was jerked awake. A trailer behind them had had its brakes fail and crashed into them, dislodging a container that crash-landed on the van’s bonnet and smashed its windscreen.

Jane and her company driver lay squashed by airbags inside the van, which was sandwiched by two huge trucks.

A crowd quickly formed around them as the minutes passed by excruciatingly slowly. Jane recalls hearing the people say no one had survived and although she cried out for help, the witnesses only watched.

“I gave up and (exclaimed) ‘Woi, nimeenda (I am gone)’,” and that’s when she felt arms grab and pull her through a hole they had cut in the car.

SPINE INJURY

Jane had one fracture in the collision, but the struggle to cut her safety belt and pull her through the hole caused her more injuries, including a fractured spine and internal bleeding. Jane survived but unfortunately, the driver did not.

They were taken to Mariakani General Hospital where the doctors were unable to give Jane proper treatment. She was transferred to Mombasa Hospital for further care. She was discharged from the hospital a year later. In those 12 months, her body tested her to her limits.

Jane had 15 hours of surgery where eight screws and a metal rod where inserted to support her broken spine and hold her back. “During that time I was diagnosed with so many diseases such as diabetes, depression, ulcers, etc, she says.

“I also had so many complications because of the spine injury. My family had to organise for people to donate lots of bloods since I was not producing blood yet I was passing blood in my urine,” says Jane, adding, “My stomach was also swollen because I was unable to relieve myself.”

The doctors stopped feeding her due to the bowel problems. Instead, they injected glucose through her veins. Unfortunately, her veins blocked.

They made incisions in her throat to continue with the drips. The first month she was in the hospital she went deaf. Then she lost her sight for two months.

FORMED BLISTERS

“When I was deaf and blind, I didn’t know where to start. It was not a condition I was born with. It was so complicated.” Still, Jane fought to survive. When she was discharged in December 2013, her company settled her medical bill, which amounted to Sh2 million.

Then she went home to Nakuru where her mother, who had suffered a stroke after news of the accident, was also just getting discharged from hospital. Jane was confined to a wheelchair, and her mother was paralysed on one side. Jane and her mother only had each other – Jane’s sisters were married, her brother was in school and her father took care of his boda boda business of the day.

While they managed to form a working care-giver relationship, Jane was rushed back to the hospital three months later. “One afternoon, I was enjoying the sunshine outside in my wheelchair. Because I have no feeling below my waist I didn’t realise that my feet were burning,” Jane explains.

Her feet formed blisters which the doctors scrapped and had her bed ridden until they healed. Once again she spent over a year in medical care and was released in June 2015, after which she had to go back to physiotherapy.

“I am supposed to go for physiotherapy everyday but because of financial constraints, I go once a week or sometimes I miss,” she says. Jane is has been bedridden at home since January this year, and has nurses visit her at home to take care of her since it is cheaper than staying in hospital.

VOLUNTARY POSITION

How does she maintain her positivity through all of this? “It wasn’t easy at first. I prayed and asked God to heal me from the inside,” she says.

The support she has received from her church community also motivates her. She also visits hospitals to encourage accident victims to take heart. “At least I know where (their) shoe pinches,” she comments.

She has also received training from Motivated Kenya on how to take care of herself while wheelchair-bound. “Of the 12 trainees, they chose me and three others to be trainers as well. It’s a voluntary position.” She also approached The Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya to allow her to accompany them during mobile clinics to encourage those affected.

“Talking to others helps keep me positive. I imagine that if someone had talked to me it would have helped me a lot.” Her love for people also saw Jane venture into politics, hoping to win the Women’s Representative seat for Nakuru but health issues held her back.

Jane is very positive about her future, hoping to one day hold a leadership position in government and start a family. Her parting shot? “If you see the girl first before the wheelchair, you won’t see my inabilities. You will see my potential. But if you see the chair first, then you will judge me.”