Like every other boy of his age, Daniel Imo Emori was full of ambition after his final examination at the Senior Secondary School level. Even, when financial difficulty posed a stumbling block to his dream of furthering his education, he took his destiny in his own hands.
At 21, he was employed as a machine operator in a plastic company in Onitsha, Anambra State but his quest for greener pastures prompted him to quit the job. He sponsored himself to a driving school and graduated.
Luck smiled on him when almost immediately after completing his driving school training, he secured a job as a delivery van driver with a pharmaceutical company. Alas! His dreams were cut short and shattered when in the line of duty he was knocked down by a mad cow and suffered what was later discovered to be cervical injury. Welcome to the pathetic world of Daniel, a 33 year old man from Adadama Community in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State who has been bedridden for 11 years. If he remains that way by October 10 this year, it will be 12 years since his life story changed for the worse. A conversation on telephone would not suggest that Daniel who now hopes in God to use his limbs again is bedridden.
A meeting in his one-room apartment with his assistant, Nicholas at Dusten Makaranta, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was quite revealing and emotional. Daniel, who is the fifth in the family of eight, was lying face up and unable to turn either way when Sunday Telegraph paid him a visit in his small room. Though he managed a smile, our correspondent could see that he was really in need of ugrnet help. It was actually Nicholas who was waiting by the road side to usher in this correspondent into the apartment rented by a good Samaritan, Rev. Charles Nonso Asiedu. The Good Samaritan is a senior pastor at Lifelink World Outreach Ministry International in Lagos.
Asiedu, who came across Daniel’s story on Facebook through the efforts of another journalist, had moved him to Abuja for proper medical treatment last year. Taking up the narration, Daniel said: “It was after my SSCE in 2000 that I travelled to Onitsha in search of greener pastures. I was employed in a plastic company as a machine operator. But after two years the company’s work was not that conducive so I saved some money and went to a driving school. It was after the training that I was employed by one pharmaceutical company, Rico by name.
“On October 10, 2003 as I was going about my official duty as a delivery van driver. I was supplying our products to various customers. I parked my vehicle in front of the customer’s shop to offload the goods. I was alighting from the vehicle without knowing that a stray cow was running at full speed in my direction. It hit me with its horns and left me in this condition.
“At that moment I was first rushed to a nearby clinic and the following day I was taken to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. After some medical examinations, they found that I had an internal injury in my neck and spinal cord. The medical report also mentioned cervical injury. They requested the payment of an emergency fee of N75,000 before treatment. So it was when we could not afford the emergency fee after four months that I was discharged. Since then, I have been at home. “In 2013, I was chatting on Facebook I got in touch with a journalist and as we were chatting I told him my condition and situation. I asked him to publish my story.
He started sharing it on his Facebook page and in the process one pastor from Delta State saw the post. “They interacted and the pastor was convinced that what he posted on Facebook was true. He came to Calabar and located my village in January 2014. In February last year the pastor brought me to Abuja and I was taken to one Indian hospital at Karu, Primus Hospital. On arrival at the hospital, they requested for a deposit of N450,000.
After that, they requested for N200,000 for a medical examination and he paid it. “After the medical examination, they now requested for N1.2 million for surgery. The pastor paid it and the operation was carried out. After I was discharged the doctor recommended a followup. He also said I would be going for physiotherapy and other treatments. It was then the pastor said he didn’t have such money.”
Daniel said he was then referred me to a physiotherapy clinic in Wuse, Abuja known as Optimal Centre. It was in the process of their own examination that they discovered that both my limbs were stiff due to the prolonged time he had been bedridden. “They said the total solution would be limbs replacement. They then consulted an Indian hospital which gave them a bill of about $4,350. This is approximately N9 million and the pastor said he doesn’t have such money.
I’m appealing to Nigerians for help. As you can see, my two legs are stiff, I can’t move them,” he stated. What about the pharmaceutical company? He said that at that time there was no means of communication. He said he was with his mother in the hospital and after about two three months, nothing was done. His elder brother visited the company at Onitsha and the director brought out a list of the money they had sent through one of the managers, which didn’t reach him in the hospital. “Currently, I’m 33 years old. I was 21 when I had the accident. My mother is alive but she is ageing.
My father died June 12, 2009. The pastor paid for my accommodation and also pays this young man monthly to take care of me. It is only my head that is not 100 per cent affected but from my neck down is paralysed. I can’t fold my hands. I can’t sit down and I cannot turn,” he added. He has been refereed to a specialist hospital in India, Saket City Hospital, to undergo five different levels of treatment.
Specifically, Daniel who is full of hope that he will walk with his legs again, needs general body examination and evaluation, infection control for the urethra and pressure sores, plastic surgery, complete knee replacement and osteoporosis management. He looks up to well meaning Nigerians to help him to raise the fund so that he can fulfill his dream in life.
His account details are Daniel Imo Emori Fidelity Bank 6160829205 or First Bank 3045515111. While he can be reached on 08098929156 and 08086387108
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