The morning of February 5, 2018 appeared to be like any other normal day for Isaac Mutembei.
But unknown to him, it was the day that life would take a surprising turn after he was attacked and four four-inch nails driven straight into his head.
On that morning in Matunda market in Isiolo County where he worked as a manager at a relative’s tea farm, out of nowhere a man who was later confirmed to be mentally sick brutally attacked Mr Mutembei with a hammer.
DROVE NAILS INTO SKULL
But as he lay unconscious after the blows, the attacker was not yet done with him. He descended on him and using the hammer, drove four long nails into his skull at different points.
Onlookers ran away leaving him lying on the ground with blood oozing from the nailed points, ears and the nostrils.
After about 20 minutes, he was picked by officers from Lewa Conservancy, who rushed him to the nearby Kiirua Mission Hospital, but he was referred to Meru County Referral Hospital where doctors did a scan and referred him to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), noting that they were not able to conduct the intricate surgery to remove the nails.
“Doctors told me that the nails had not reached the brain, but had interfered with a number of nerves and seriously damaged the skull,” Mr Mutembei narrated to the Nation at his butchery in Itara village, Tharaka-Nithi County.
At the KNH, he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for one week and thereafter a group of doctors conducted a six-hour-delicate surgery and successfully removed the nails.
‘WOKE UP IN COMA’
“When I woke up from the coma, I was told of how I had disagreed with the man in a bar and he attacked me. That is not true. I don’t know him,” he said.
After a month, Mr Mutembei showed signs of recovery and would be wheeled to a lawn for some minutes. By then, the left side of his body from the hand to the legs was paralysed.
Doctors discharged Mr Mutembei after two months recommending that he was out of danger but he could not leave the hospital because of the bill that had accumulated to Sh2.3 million.
Back at home, the family members could not afford to raise such amount but after conducting a fundraiser, they managed Sh800,000 that they paid.
However, the KNH welfare and other well-wishers not even known to him paid the rest of the money and Mr Mutembei was free to leave after three months.
At home where he is still trying to come to terms with the incident, he has resolved to put his tribulations behind and focus on the positive side of life.
Last Saturday, Mr Mutembei got married to the love of his life, Stella Gacheri in a colourful wedding at Nteani PCEA Church.
“I forgive my attacker and especially because he was taken to hospital and confirmed that he was not mentally upright,” he said.
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