Three years ago, Unny Mutune Nyaata was seated in the front seat of a car, holding her 10-week son when the vehicle rammed a lorry.
The child, Jordel Maua, was ripped off her hands and suffered serious spinal injuries. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Mater Misericordiae Hospital.
Nyaata was lucky. She sustained facial lacerations. Until recently when he was transferred to the general ward, the ICU had been Jordel's home since June 10, 2017. He does not know the warmth of a home and has missed milestones such as birthdays.
Nyaata posted on her social media platform: "I am a mother, yes. But I haven’t really felt or experienced what motherhood is all about except the months before the accident. Those months were the best time of my life until the accident took it away from me. All I got were scars that keep screaming at me."
Jordel has been weaned off oxygen support and cleared for home-based care.
The mother is happy with this milestone. But her attention has shifted to the bill the hospital has slapped her with - Sh66.2 million. She is now appealing for help from well-wishers to settle the bill.
"Being discharged from hospital and leaving my son there tore me to pieces. How? He was too young... And there was nothing I could have done to help - not even my breast milk. It was like I never breastfed in the first place," Nyaata recalls.
She is grateful to Mater for taking care of her son. She appreciates the hospital's patience and diligence. But she wishes and prays that the hospital can waive the astronomical bill.
"The hospital has done a great job in caring for Jordel. They have been the family he has known all these three years. But I just wish they waived the bill. It is so huge," she told the Star on Monday.
- mwaniki fm
