Johannesburg: So Much Around Me To Learn From...

There were some other patients here from Nigeria. One of them was a lady well known to Ulo and her husband, Chidi. She had been in an accident with her son and they were both flown to Milpark Hospital from Nigeria. I understood that her son passed away, and she was in critical condition. I made enquiries and went and introduced myself to her husband. He said he had suspected I was related to Ulo because of our resemblance to each other. I gave him Ulo's message that his wife was in their prayers and offered my condolences for his son.

I also met another lady whose daughter had kidney complications due to lupus. The family had been through so much, but they were trusting in God for a miracle. According to man's knowledge, their child should not even be alive. But because of God's grace, He had kept her to testify of His goodness, and therefore God was going to be glorified through her, even if it was just because of her mother's unshakable faith.

I knew there was a reason that God led me to hear this remarkable woman's story, and I was learning to make use of every opportunity He brought to glimpse into His heart and see what lesson lay there.

This lady and her daughter had been in Milpark for two months and she had not given up for one day. Such faith, even when the girl had no blood pressure at all and her white blood cell count was below zero. Incredible! God would reward such faith, I knew He would...

To be continued...

Johannesburg: Grace Addict...

 I woke up with a bible verse resonating through my being,

“ My grace is sufficient for thee: For my strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9. I had always been very familiar with that verse, but never had it had so much meaning to me. Total dependence, that was what God wanted from me. I would give it to Him and watch as miracle upon miracle overtook me. The arm of man will fail. God cannot, because it is not in His nature to fail. When I am weak, He is strong, and His strength is made perfect when I am completely leaning on Him, completely trusting in Him. I read the rest of that verse and it went,

“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

I spent some time meditating on these words and resolving to make them a part of my life henceforth.

I discovered that my “quiet times” with God were quite different from what I had been used to before the plane crash. God had always been a very significant part of my life, way before I got born again in 1998, and fellowship with Him, whether in church, with family, or alone, had always brought me joy and peace. But there was something different now. It was as if God was sitting beside me as I prayed or read the bible. Things became clearer to understand. 

I felt more peaceful and fulfilled after meditating on His Word. I felt much closer to Him. And the best thing was, I could not wait to be in His presence...

To be continued...

Johannesburg: God At Work...

I sat waiting for Kechi to come out of surgery. She went in at 6.30pm, and when I peeked in her room at 7.50pm, she was there, and the nurses were re-attaching her to tubes and lines. Kechi was now having surgery every forty eight hours because the doctors were trying very hard to remove all the dead skin as soon as they could to minimize infection.

When I was finally allowed to see her, I could see that her face was now fully bandaged. They had done the debridement of her face and the remaining leg. I wondered what this meant for the future of her face and whether her beautiful face would ever be the same after so much of it had been scraped away. I quickly pulled myself back from those thoughts, reminding myself that surgery can only be performed on the living and that by God's grace, she would be fully restored, as He promised. She seemed peaceful, not agitated as she sometimes was after surgery, so I sat by her, sang and prayed. 

As I was getting ready for bed, a text message came from Chinedu. He had received two messages from the Holy Spirit for me and they went thus:

“I have surrounded her with My presence, and My servants are ever present, encamped around them. They are instruments of My purpose, My purpose, so she must not fear or be discouraged. She needs only to open the eye of her heart to see Me afresh in all this. I have ministered peace to her soul; she only has to receive it. I am her God”.

And then,

“It is My intention for her own strength to fail. I want her to depend entirely on me. The strength she had thus far was of Me. I want it to remain so.”

I bowed my head, full of praise and thanksgiving, awed at the privilege and honor to be a part of this move of God...

To be continued...

Johannesburg: You Know True Encouraging Words When You Hear Them...

After Ulo's call, I received a call from someone who identified himself as the Managing Director of Sosoliso Airlines. He said that they would like to support us in any way they could. I told him that my focus for now was praying for my daughter and that he should speak to my husband on any other matters.

As far as I was concerned, if the company wanted to help us out, they would call and say, “this is how we want to help, how do you feel about it?”, not to call me and say they would like to help. What did he expect me to say? “Okay, send me $1m so I can pay bills?” I did not want any distractions. I was focused on God and Kechi and did not wish to be disturbed.

Many people had been visiting me to find out how Kechi was doing and some of them gave me money to help pay for food and transportation, many of them people I had never met before. None of them called to tell me that they would like to support me in any way they can. They just obeyed the prompting of The Spirit and gave. That was how God worked.

Shortly after this upsetting call, I received a call from one of my brothers in law, Patrick. Apparently he was with the governor of Imo State (my home state), Governor Achike Udenwa, who wanted to speak to me. The Governor spoke words of encouragement and told me to also take care of myself to be strong for Kechi.

Susan, Elsie's friend who had helped Mike get his visa from the South African embassy in Nigeria, paid me a visit all the way from Pretoria. Very pretty and petite, she had the lovely accent most South Africans have. We had a lovely visit and she promised to keep in touch.

Ulo called after Susan left. She was with Chinedu, our brother, and in discussion with him about the things she had said to me, it turned out that Chinedu received that same word for me and had in fact shared it with his friend, William, that morning. He also received word that I should minister to others in the hospital. A bit  scary, but I prayed that God would make a way. I trusted absolutely in Him...

To be continued...

Johannesburg: Refreshing Words...

Ulo (my sister) called me and really ministered to me telling me the following:

- God, In His infinite mercy, chose Kechi, my child, for what He is doing at this time, and has strengthened me so that others will draw strength from me.

- This situation is bigger than Kechi and I. It is a whole new birthing process and God is showing, through everything that has happened, that His hand is in this and His name WILL be glorified.

- I would have to remain deep in the womb of prayer and supplication, abiding in his Word, and drawing strength from Him. I could not waver, could not afford to.

- We should realize that we were privileged to be a part of this move of God.

- Every birthing comes with pain, which is what we were going through then. But sorrow only endures through the night and joy comes in the morning.

- It was understandable that I felt low looking at Kechi just lying there, unmoving, but I would have to look beyond what I was seeing and look forward to the glory of God that will be revealed through her when her work in God begins.

Ulo said so many other things that ministered to my soul, and I was calm. I thanked God for the uncommon wisdom He had bestowed on Ulo. I knew that it was right to tell her what I was feeling.

To be continued...

Johannesburg: Still Human and So Alone...

So why was I still feeling this heaviness that should not have existed? I sent up a prayer for the Lord to fill me with His joy. I was still feeling shaky when, a few minutes into my visit with Kechi, a lady in the room next to Kechi tapped on the glass partition and signed for me that she was praying for me. She was there to visit the patient in the room who was probably her husband and who, as far as I know, had been either unconscious or sedated since he was brought in.

I was moved to tears at her compassion for a stranger even though she was in a similar situation but I managed to hold on to some control until I got to the waiting room. Once I got there, especially when I saw other patient's relatives surrounded by their families and friends, I sobbed my eyes out. For the first time, I felt alone and far from my family.

After I finally managed to pull myself together, I finished my visit (they had asked me to leave so they could take some x-rays).

But I needed help so I sent Ulo a text. As if on cue, Obi called from London and when I told him how I was feeling, he told me to look for ways to distract myself. (How like a man to think that all I needed to do was to go out and play ball or something!). I assured him that I would not let myself get so low again...

To be continued...

Johannesburg: God Was Always In Full Charge...

I was getting very worried about my accommodation arrangements as the hotel had informed me that Int'l SOS had not extended my stay past Saturday the 17th. I called ISOS several times and they kept promising to call back but they never did. When I called yet again, they said they had called the hotel and spoken to a lady called Pauline. When I got home that night, Pauline had left, but had noted that my stay was only extended to the next day.

I called Mike and asked him to call Dr. Moses and find out what the situation was. I also called Mom and Ulo and we were throwing ideas back and forth when suddenly it hit me! Everything had been done by God so far, with no input by any of us. Why were we now getting involved? Were we trying to help Him? I immediately repented of my sin of lack of trust and sent texts to Ulo and Mom to do the same. Then I let go and let God.

The next day, December 20^th (day 9 after the plane crash), I got out of bed later than usual. It had rained in the night and was quite chilly that morning. I had not realized how chilly until I went outside and discovered that my denim jacket was inadequate.

On my way past the front desk that morning, I spoke to Pauline and she said that ISOS had extended my stay and that the lady who called from their office said Pauline should tell me not to panic, my welfare was their responsibility. 

I immediately bowed my head and thanked God for His grace. I had disobeyed by doubting; repenting, I asked for forgiveness and His grace filled me...

To Be Continued... In the meantime, do not forget this:

“…for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”

Isaiah 52 : 12b (NKJV)

Johannesburg: The Hand Over...

The trauma physician, Dr. Plani, had informed me that he was handing Kechi over to another physician who would now take care of her since she was now out of immediate danger, and thus no longer a trauma patient. 

Dr. Pahad was an internal medicine physician and I took to him as soon as we were introduced because there was a certain calmness about him that soothed me. I trusted him immediately. He was with Kechi when I returned to her room to visit. In response to my enquiries about her healing, he said that her lungs and kidneys are fine and he was pleased with her progress. He said that Kechi was in a much better state than she was when she came in, but I should talk to the plastic surgeon for details about the condition of her burns.

Needless to say, this was good news for me. I was happy that her doctor was pleased with her recovery. I just wanted to prostrate and thank God and tell Him that indeed my eyes had seen, my ears had heard, and my mouth would talk about His goodness for the rest of my life and unto eternity! 

He is an awesome God.

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Assuring Words; Wise Counsel...

I had been warned that there would be ups and downs in Kechi's recovery process. I just needed to stay strong. “Dear Lord”, I prayed, “Please infuse me with Your joy. Joy belongs to You and Your joy is my strength. Amen.”

During the afternoon visit later that day, Kechi again reacted to the sound of my voice. She tried to open her eyes and started to move her lips. I could sense her frustration and tried to calm her down. Eventually, the nurse had to give her the muscle relaxant and she calmed down. I sang to her again as always before leaving.

Pat's friend, Noni, visited when I was in the waiting room and assured me that she and the rest of her church were praying for Kechi and she promised to visit again soon. 

There was a certain calmness I felt about Kechi's condition that day. It was very reassuring to me that she recognized my voice, although she got agitated. 

When I spoke to Ulo later, she said I should reassure Kechi that even when she did not hear my voice, she should know that I was nearby, ready to be with her the second visiting time came around. She also suggested I should tell Kechi the visiting times and start each visit by telling her, “It's 4pm and I'm here”. That way, Kechi would know that sometimes I was in the room with her and at other times, I was nearby. This made a lot of sense to me and I adopted it from the very next visit...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Nursing Is A Calling, Not A Job...

I woke up feeling blue but felt better after praying and reading Psalms 138 and 139. I was physically weak and I decided then and there to take better care of myself, force myself to eat and rest more. I could not afford to be ill. Not at this time.

When I went in to see Kechi, I notice that her temperature was down but her face was bleeding in some places. It appeared that this was because of the cleaning of her facial burns. This bleeding was supposed to be a good sign. I remember the plastic surgeon saying that they would debride her face because they wanted it to bleed. I was quite sure he told me why, but at that point, for the life of me, I could not remember why Kechi's face bleeding was a good thing. I had trusted them thus far and resolved to continue to trust them.

The nurse on duty said that Kechi had had those breathing problems again the previous night. They had called in her doctor, who gave her a muscle relaxant which put her in an even deeper sleep so they could control her. Personally, I think Kechi was just fed up with the tube in her throat and wanted it out.

I sat by her and prayed until one of the nurses came to sit by me and encouraged me to hang in there. She said she had noticed that I was not looking my best that morning and told me to stay strong. I was very touched. One thing I noticed in Milpark Hospital was that all the staff, not just the nurses, were very empathetic. They genuinely cared about, not just their patients, but also the families. Here I saw that nursing is a calling, not just a job...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Family Support Never Failed...

Lanre told me that Ulo was arranging to send me some more money through him. 

I was really so grateful to Ulo. With her I could go into detail about Kechi's condition that others could not handle at that time. Everyone was saying that I was so strong but the truth was that Ulo was the strong one because she always had just the right words to lift me up. For all I knew, she probably went to pieces after calling or texting me, but at those moments when I needed strength, she gave it to me through God's word. As anyone who knows Ulo is aware of, God has imbued her with uncommon wisdom and I drew from her when I needed it. I thanked God every day for her.

Betty's husband, Ike had just returned from Nigeria. He visited us in the hospital and came with letters and newspaper clippings from my family. When I got back to my room that night, I started to go through the letters from my sister Nkechi's kids for Kechi. I broke down crying as I read those letters because for the first time I was seeing the whole situation from their point of view. If Kechi had gone to be with Jesus last Saturday, those boys' lives would never have been the same because she was so close to those cousins of hers that at times it seemed that her spirit was connected to theirs. Bichu especially would have been devastated. They all wrote that they saw that there was a calling on Kechi's life and that they loved her very much.

My crying jag set the mood for the next few hours as I went through the newspaper cuttings Mom had enclosed. I was sinking into gloom and despair, looking at pictures of parents grieving. The last straw was seeing the pictures of some of the students, including my friend, Angela Ubah's son, Ifeanyi.

Mom and Nkechi called just then and I told them what I was doing and that I could no longer handle it. Mom immediately told me to pack them up and put them at the bottom of the box and forget all about them. They spoke with me until midnight, consoling me and encouraging me to remain strong. I told them to pray for a little girl, a baby, really, Erin, who had been brought into the ICU for burns. She was so little and it broke my heart to see her burns and hear her cry.

After the phone call, I felt better but still had a feeling of heaviness as I prayed for the hurting families.

I called the hospital before going to bed and was told that Kechi was stable...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: The First Breakthrough...

I had been sitting been sitting beside Kechi, reading some bible passages from Psalms to her when it seemed to me that I heard a gurgling sound from the respirator. Then it started to beep. I was alarmed and thought the machine was defective again. I ran out to get the sister, who had just stepped out, and she brought out a long tube connected to a machine and proceeded to suction Kechi's mouth and nose. Apparently, saliva and mucus sometimes filled the patient's mouth and nose and had to be suctioned off.

Then she said to Kechi, “Come on, darling, open your mouth”. AND KECHI MOVED HER MOUTH! I exclaimed, “Can she hear you?” “Oh yes”, replied the nurse. She asked Kechi again to open her mouth and Kechi moved her eyelids.

“No, darling, not your eyes”, the nurse laughed, “your mouth”. I could not believe it. All these days, Kechi had lain unmoving. It was very startling to see her respond to anyone.

“So……has she been hearing me all this while?” I asked the nurse. She said yes.

Then Kechi moved her mouth some more and sounds came from her throat. She was trying to speak!

The nurse calmed her down and explained to her she would not be able to speak because she had a tube down her throat. I also came round to the side of her bed and told her to calm down, and that I would sing for her. I started singing one of her favorite songs The Woodpecker's Song.

The second verse had always been a problem to me because I had somehow never been able to memorize it. Kechi always used to correct me when I got there. As I got to the second verse, she shook her head slightly and I said, “I know, I'm messing it up. Please bear with me, okay?” She actually shook her head! I almost lost it then, but I pulled myself together because I knew my crying would upset her.

I sang more songs to her until it was past visiting time. I was overwhelmed and needed to call my family and spread the news...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Restoration Begins...

Since Kechi was going in for surgery on Sunday, I decided to go in early so I would see her before she got wheeled into the OR. I was pleased to see that she was stable and the fever of the previous day had subsided. Also, her mouth did not seem to be as swollen as before. 

I took this as a good sign and prayed over her before leaving the nurses to prepare her for surgery. These preparations were quite elaborate because Kechi had to be unhooked from about ten different machines and then hooked up to others that would take her into the OR.

When I peeked into her room at 11.30am, she had returned from surgery. I waited a while because it was also an elaborate process to hook her back on the different machines all around her bed. Although it was way past visiting time, I was allowed to have a quick visit and prayer before going back to the hotel to rest.

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: There Are Still Many Good People...

After I visited with Kechi, Layi and her husband came by and brought me chicken salad for lunch. After they left, I felt very weary and decided to go and catch a nap in the hotel.

Brother Dotun and his wife visited me at the hotel, brought me food and also gave me R200. At this point, my fridge in the hotel was overflowing with food people kept bringing me. I was very grateful for this because I did not have to buy food and could save money that way. Brother Dotun and his wife dropped me off at the hospital and soon after, Lanre came with his friends, Mike and Vicki, and insisted I go out with them. He was furnishing his house because he was expecting his family to move down from Nigeria and we all went with him to shop for bargains in beds and mattresses. I knew Lanre was trying to give me a break from the hospital and I really appreciated it, but when it got close to visiting time I told him I needed to be with Kechi.

When we got to the hospital, they actually waited for me to visit with Kechi and it took a little longer that time because she was running a fever and was being kept cool. She was shivering a little as her bandages were being kept moist. I spent the whole visit praying, and rebuking the fever. When I looked up, I saw Lanre standing just inside the door of the ICU, head bowed, obviously praying. I was so touched.

Lanre was an incredibly genuine, caring kind of person. Very rare. It was clear why Ulo called him a friend. I was so glad there were still people like him in this world, and so proud he was a Nigerian. I had seen the best in human beings since Kechi's accident.

Sade and her husband are other examples of fantastic human beings. After my visit with Kechi, Lanre took us to a place in Randburg for dinner. Sade and her husband had come to the hospital to see me and when they called me, they found out where we were having dinner and drove thirty minutes to see me. They were leaving the next day and had to see me before going. I will miss them so much. Sade actually bought two outfits for Tara, my baby girl in Nigeria.

I was very fortunate to have met the most selfless, incredible people during this trying period. It was indeed true that God would not allow a burden too hard for us to bear. He surrounded me with the love and support of the most wonderful people...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Realities...

Dr. Nel warned that there will be scar tissue from the grafting which might be corrected with reconstructive surgery and pressure garments, six months to a year down the line. He also said that the last person that had Kechi's kind of burns needed more than seventeen surgeries! This seemed so much to me at the time. Little did I know that Kechi was going to have almost fifty surgeries before we left South Africa!

Also, Kechi's face would likely need debridement and require grafting. At this point, I was praying that her face would be spared.

I was very grateful that Dr. Nel took the time to explain in detail what was going on with Kechi. He did not make any promises, indeed he stressed that Kechi was a very, very sick girl and that they were all praying that she pulled through.

After my session with him, I sought out Dr. Plani, the trauma surgeon. In his gruff, but kind manner, he assured me that Kechi was doing well so far, and in response to my questions, said that she would be on the respirator and sedated for a while.

I then retired to the visiting room to wait for visiting time and also used the opportunity to ruminate over the reports I had got from the doctors. Then I began to pray. It was beginning to dawn on me that this was not going to be a short hospital stay...

To Be Continued...

Johannesburg: Being Anxious For Nothing, Praying In Everything...

One week after the plane crash, on the 17th of December, I decided to remove the weave in my hair and wash it.

This was a major move on my part because it indicated that I was relaxed enough to actually look at myself in the mirror and decide to take better care of myself. Of course, this did not run to make up or any sort of primping. It just did not seem important to do any more than basic hygiene and then rush off to the hospital. But my hair was a mess, and I was beginning to look like a crazy person so I decided to fix that and felt so much better.

In order to speak to any of the doctors, I had to get to the hospital early and this time I wanted to catch up with the plastic surgeon that was handling Kechi's surgeries so far.

He was a young South African named Dr. Nel, and he took the time to explain to me what exactly they were doing. So far, they had done the debridement on her two arms. They were moving slowly so as not to cause her undue stress and the surgeries would be done every forty eight hours.

The next surgery was slated for the following day, Sunday, on one leg, and the next one on the following Tuesday. He also said they would check on the first arm and see if it was ready for grafting and if so, they would begin grafting on Tuesday. They would not be able to graft until they were sure they removed all of the dead and infected skin unless the graft would “fail”. This meant that the skin used to graft onto the wound would become infected and will not be integrated into the site.

I now had another prayer point, ‘Lord, please let the graft ‘take’!

To Be Continued...