Thank You Tophill for Saving My Life

Amon Kibet Samoei, 29, is one lucky man to be alive today after surviving an injury on his head caused by a bullet.

Amon, who is slowly recovering from the injury and trauma, was shot on the eve of the August, 9, general elections and had to undergo two open-head surgeries within a period of three months.
Though his speech was altered after suffering a major damage in the brain he still remembers what happened on the fateful day.

“I was among the mobilisers of a certain aspirant in Uasin Gishu County. There was a clash between two rival camps that resulted in violence where people identified me as among those planning to ensure the other camp loses. Someone who was armed with a gun came towards me pointing a gun and shot me at close range,” Kibet explains while stammering.

He says he remembers falling down in pain and bleeding profusely amidst a huge crowd that was chanting riot songs. He later found himself in the ICU fighting for his life.

“I was on the verge of dying. It’s a miracle that I am alive and I thank Dr F. Koech for treating me immediately when I was brought to the hospital. He saved me,” he further comments while smiling
Kibet was shot some meters away from Tophill Hospital at around 8 pm at night and a group of youths rushed him to the facility minutes after he was injured.

According to Dr. Florentius Koech, a Neurosurgeon at Tophill Hospital who operated on him, he was bleeding and needed urgent help because the injury was grave.

“The team that brought him was swift in handling the situation because if they had delayed the situation would have changed. In such a situation time is critical, luckily 15 minutes after he was brought in we were already in the theatre operating on him,” he explains
“His condition was critical, his GCS, (Glasgow Coma Scale), a clinical scale used to measure a person’s consciousness, was 3. One of the pupils had dilated and showed no response meaning that he was almost dying,” he adds
A political friend was the only close person to Kibet at that time and the doctor had no option but to seek his consent before he was taken to theatre.
The scan that Kibet had undergone showed that the gunshot pierced through the left side of his head ripping through leaving fragments and multiple shrapnels in the brain. His skull was also shattered into pieces by the bullet.
“We stabilized him because he needed a lot of blood before operating him. We found the entry point of the bullet and on opening the head, we found a big cavity caused by the bullet,”

Dr Koech notes that the left side of the brain is the dominant side and controls every body function and that in this case all the eloquent areas in Kibets brain were damaged.

The team took almost three hours to stop bleeding in the brain and then embarked on restoring the remaining parts of the brain that were not injured.

“It took us 2-3 hours to achieve hemostasis. we also had to create another dura, brain cover, because it was damaged. We removed the bone pieces and managed to cover the brain with the dura and left it open without the skull but covered with the skin,” he continues.

He was taken to ICU where he stayed for a week fighting for his life while in a very critical condition.
“We didn’t know if he would survive but within a week he stabilized and two weeks later, was taken to the ward where he stayed for another 3 weeks before being discharged.

His brother Cornelius Kurgat, who has been his caregiver since when he was admitted at Tophill Hospital after he was shot, is still in shock after seeing him in a critical state. He almost gave up when he saw him in ICU not responding well and was afraid that he would lose him.

“He was down until two weeks later. I was relieved when he started responding well to medication. When we were finally discharged, he couldn’t talk and had difficulty walking but you could see he was better,” he comments
Kurgat is grateful to Tophill Hospital for saving his brother’s life at a time when no family member was around.
“In other hospitals, a patient is required to deposit a certain amount of money to get services especially when it is related to surgery but the hospital acted without hesitating. I am grateful to the institution for the care given to my brother,” he adds.

Kurgat notes that he has been by his brother’s side as he struggled to speak again after the first surgery. At some point, his right side was paralyzed and he couldn’t do anything. However, after several therapy sessions, he has recovered and is able to move on his own. His right hand is yet to recover from the paralysis but he is progressing well.

On October,25, Kibet underwent his second surgery to replace his skull which was shattered by the bullet when he was shot. His condition is stable and has been able to go back home waiting for his review in two weeks’ time.
“This second surgery was less critical compared to the first one. He has responded well and he is being discharged after 4 days in the hospital. We are grateful.”