In 2010, Liz Migot lost her sight at the peak of her life. She was 24 and in third year at Kenyatta University. Her world literally crashed and she thought her life was over. Plus, she was also told that she will never walk again. This sent her into a serious depression.
However with the help of medical personnel and support from family she dusted herself up and went ahead to clear her degree course. She is now in the final stages of finishing her Master’s. Although still blind, she regained her mobility and can even jog in open spaces. Below is her story.
“I remember waking up on that day and the doctor informing me that I had been unconscious for two weeks. What disturbed me was that I could hear the doctor’s voice but could not see him.
After that, I was taken to Kikuyu Hospital and it was here that I heard the doctor say that I would never see again. It felt like someone else was being given that news and not me. I just went numb. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.
Before the collapse that led to my loss of sight, I had been having unending migraines for close to seven months, which at times left me with blurred vision.
The migraines had become so bad that they had started affecting my memory to the point that I would forget which was our house. Initially when I would be taken to hospitals like the Aga Khan or Loresho, I thought that this was just one of those illnesses that you have and then you get well and move on with your life.
But this time it was different. Doctors were resolute, saying there was no medical intervention that could be made for me to see again. After so many scans and medical check-ups, it had to dawn on me that no medication could bring back my eyesight.
I slipped into the second phase of depression. I was told that the first face of depression was when I woke up in hospital and could not see.
After I was discharged from hospital – which was after about one month – I still did not have to deal with my eyesight because my memory was completely off.
This kind of illness affects not only the patient, but it goes all round. Everyone at home had their share of stress as my sister got to a point that she was even admitted in the same hospital while my brothers who were in high school had their performance dip. My dad lost so much weight while my mum had to be given a compassionate leave.
When visitors came home, there was tension all around and all they did was to cry over what had befallen me. For me, I was trying to digest everything in the dark space I was in. Here I was, one minute the top student at the university with grades, dreams and goals and the next minute I can’t talk, walk, remember or move any part of my body.
Things were not improved by the fact that doctors, after further analysis, reminded my parents that I will never see, work, capability or even have a memory of anything. They told my parents that all my internal organs were failing and that even if the hospital tried its best, there was nothing that they would do for me that could actually help. One day when my parents came back home with some of my items and when they entered the house, my siblings started crying thinking that I had died.
However, God is a God of miracles and after about two months I started gaining memory. Not fully, but baby steps. I could now remember that people walk, clean themselves on their own and that I used to do all this on my own. Although my memory was getting back, my speech was still sluggish.
Just when things were getting better, another bout of depression set in and this one just hit so hard. I started having insomnia, scary thoughts like I wanted to die and not ever wake up and I was always looking out for ways that I could kill myself. I had the thought but the problem was that I was never left alone, which made it hard for me to execute my plan.
Then one day it hit me that I had to pick myself up because I knew nobody would do it for me and it was now almost a year with no change. I was just blind, not working, not talking. I was done feeling down and I wanted to get up. I wanted to feel better. I had to overcome what was happening for my parents and siblings’ sake.
As much as I did not see the need for me to be alive, I had to stay alive because of my parents and siblings. I quickly acknowledged that I could not do all the fighting on my own and that I needed a greater power, Jesus, even though I admit that I didn’t know him that well. I was sure he was the only one who could help me. I had at this moment lost faith in the medicines that I was being given as I could not see any positive result after using them. I was even using some anti-depression medication which was also not helping either.
I went through physiotherapy sessions with the help of my siblings and an uncle and in a short while, I was able to walk. It was not a quick affair and I had to learn to take slow steps like a baby starting all over again. I was elated.
In 2016, the university recalled me to school and this was a huge test because of the fear I had developed. How was I going to study? How would I even survive in the school without my parents or siblings or even just one person known to me?
As a coping mechanism, I kept off every negativity to the point that I was over-encouraged (if there is such a thing) I only kept friends who believed in what I believed in and I did not find it hard to let go of the ones who contradicted what I believed in — which is: regardless of how things look like, it shall be well.
In the meantime, God became my best and only friend and we would always talk as if he was physically there. He gave me strength every moment of the day.
There were moments when I was so down that I could not attend classes or even open my door for people to come in, I had to learn how to be my best friend, always talking myself out of bouts of feeling myself giving up. I knew I had to perform and so I got super engrossed in my books and had no other life in school to the point that I emerged one of the best students, defeating even the others with no sight problems.
With the help of my lecturers and some very good students and friends from home, I graduated with a second class upper division. I later on enrolled for my Master’s programme, which is currently ongoing, and I will soon be graduating.
The university, through the directorate of disability, made arrangements for me. I want to single out the don in charge of disability, Prof Paul Mbugua, who made every necessary accommodation for me to be able to manage in the university in my new status.
I’m still in that journey and although I am not where I used to be, at least now I know that life does not have to happen the way you have planned it. You just have to learn that with God’s help you can handle whatever life presents to you. A challenge comes for you to overcome and not for you to be defeated. If and when it comes then you have what it takes to overcome. Just don’t give up.” BY DAILY NATION