(Part 1/4) It all started on the 30th of October, 2010. I had my first seizure in my 1st year of University (100 level). I started convulsing and was rushed to the hospital but the doctors didn’t know what to do because they hadn’t seen anything like it. I had seizures 17 times in 5 minutes. Normally anyone that does that should go into a coma, but I kept going on and on.
I was taken to Lifeline hospital at Surulere and was admitted for 5 days. I had one of the most painful procedures in the world, a lumbar puncture – where a 4 to 5-foot syringe is injected down your spine. It was extremely painful. I did the procedure 2ce. Fluid was taken from my spine and nothing was seen. I did an MRI scan and a CT scan; nothing was found. Then I got transferred to Lagoon Hospital. This happened close to my 18th birthday.
When I started getting better I had memory loss. I didn’t know who my mum was or anyone else. I became a vegetable. I couldn’t lift my hands, I lost my sight and my speech was slurred. I was in hospital for about a month and a half. My mum had to teach me how to write, dress up, apply makeup and even walk because I couldn’t walk anymore. I also couldn’t pass out faeces for a whole month and had to pass urine through a bag. I was helpless and everything was just too much for me to handle.
I was discharged from the hospital on the 5th of December 2010 and went back to school in 2011. I couldn’t remember anything I was taught in 100 level 1st semester. My mum suggested I stop school for a year. But I disagreed and told her I was going to read hard and pass my exams. I was reading every day from 8pm to 5am for 2 weeks, because I resumed school in 2011, 3 weeks to my exams. I’m not sure how I passed those exams.