Mother left with Sh66 million medical bill after son’s three years in ICU

A mother has narrated painfully how her quest to have her son treated after a traumatic car accident has left her with a Sh66 million hospital bill to clear.  

Unny Mutune Nyaata posted on Facebook her long fight to save her son Jordel’s life from the time they were involved in a bad road accident to the harrowing experiences in the hospital.

Nyaata said the accident that occurred on June 10, 2017 changed her life forever.

“10th June 2017 that’s the day my life completely changed. I have fought demons from within through this journey. To me this has been a real nightmare the kind that is classic, slow motion, recurrent and really scary and I have had to relive it on a daily basis,” she wrote.

She said details of the crash involving her car and a lorry are hazy and she only remembers screaming as she saw a lorry in front of her. When she came to her dreaded experience started. 

“What I remember is screaming as I saw a lorry right infront of us .. then I couldn’t see a thing i thought this is it. I just wanted to breath. My son was in my arms but as much as I could not see him (later figured the windscreen had shattered right into my face) I knew something was wrong he was too quiet,” reads her post.

“My baby My baby,’ those were my only words,” she wrote as she recollected the events surrounding the accident that she and her 10-month old son managed to steal their lives from.

Unfortunately, they ended up in the Intensive Care Unit but she was released early as her son remained in critical condition.

“And that’s how at 10weeks old we found ourselves in the ICU. Turns out my baby wasn’t okay after all. 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 within seconds done,” the post went on.

Unny Mutune Nyaata      PHOTO/COURTESY

Her son had taken the full impact of accident. She wished it was her instead.

“How do you feel when you know that your child is laying helpless in ICU and that should have been you. He took my impact all of it.. my body ached so much so what of him.. Holding him in my arms only for him to save me instead of me doing it.

“My son saved me that day only I have wished for so long that it was I who would have saved him. It should have been me on that bed. The what ifs that I have had ... what if I remained home that day? What if I had gotten the damn car seat? What if I was in the back seat? What if I had seen the lorry early enough?”

She has been reliving the moment …. wishing every time she replays it the script will change.

“Each time I am on the road it’s like am right there all over again standing with my son by the road side bleeding right into him. Each time someone brakes while driving I brace myself for impact. I don’t know if it ever goes away.. I think mine is camping right here.

“There really should be a rewind button in life .. where you can rewind, edit then play. I am a mother yes but I don’t know the kind of mother I am. Coz i haven’t really felt or experienced what motherhood is all about well for 2 months yeah and it was the best time of my life till it was taken from me.”

Nyaata misses her son’s short normal era and questions God many times for what befell him. Her sons has been in the hospital for three years and she is still painfully searching for answers.

“My son changed me, ICU changed me life ain’t the same way I viewed it 3+ years ago. I still ask why though you know what’s the reason for this, they say it all happens for a reason. Honestly am yet to find mine. This has been scary getting to see those next to your son say goodbye to this world and you are so afraid that you might be next. I always counted and lost myself each time as dread took over all of me. I am still scared.”

As painfully unbearable as the journey has been for Nyaata and Jordel, she is grateful to Mater Misericordiae Hospital for taking care of him for the three long and draining years of admission.

“For 3+ years this has been my sons home. I have walked these corridors like I belonged. Despite my very huge bill and challenge of not being able to keep up ,they have adored and treated my son like their very own child. “Mater Baby” that’s my Jordel to them.

“No single time has he not been able to get the care that he needs. The doctors from the go have just been awesome and dedicated. If you asked me about nurses and medics care before here I wouldn’t have had a thing to say. Now I can honestly say that you forever have my respect and admiration.”

What Nyaata posted on Facebook during Jordel's birthday in ICU on March 29, 2020. PHOTO/COURTESY

She opted to look at the brighter side of their ordeal in the ICU.

“The ICU team made ICU not feel like those capital letters. All my memorable times with my son have been spent with this team. Them dressing my son for birthdays, singing along side me and blowing candles to a cake we would really enjoy and funny enough it felt like I was just home celebrating like any other parent to their kids. They wished alongside me for babys recovery.

“They encouraged me even when I was loosing hope with all the waiting and uncertainty…. I have learnt that the people you really had in life prior to some life circumstance won’t always be there. But along the way you will meet strangers who will forever hold your hand not coz it’s an obligation or pity. No, but coz of empathy and they relate and they honestly just want to be there.”

Her son Jordel is doing much better. However, she has a new burden to bear…..the cost of Jordel’s treatment accrued over three years stands at Sh66 million and this has to be paid for him to be discharged.

“To family, friends who stayed, strangers who became friends and have truly walked with us through this journey Thank You. My son can now Breath,” she said in the long emotional post.

She learnt a painful expensive lesson due to the traumatic experience and has a powerful word of advice for parents with young children:

“Are you a parent? Do you have a car? Can you afford a car seat? Please get one and let your babies always be in it for whatever drive you taking even if its 100 metres. You not able to get one? Please can you be at the back of your car with your baby buckled up? Babies at the passenger seat and being held at the steering wheel while someone drives feel me with dread.”

Nyaata is appealing to well-wishers to assist her raise the cash to offset Jordel’s medical bill and allow her to take her home from Mater hospital that has been his home longer than her house.

“WE KEEP BREATHING. PLEASE HELP ME BRING MY SON HOME.. JORDEL..Can’t wait to take you home child and I pray that as we will start to create memories we will one day look back and smile at how far we have come,” she concluded in the Facebook post.