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| Endo Warrior Njambi Koikai |
A past of Njambi Koikai talking about her tumultuous life journey on Engage Talk has re-emerged a few hours after she died. Njambi Koikai, aka Fyah Mummah Jahmby, battled endometriosis for 21 years before she died in hospital. Njambi Koikai, popularly known as Fyah Mummah Jahmby died while receiving treatment at the Nairobi Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment.In the Engage Talk video, Njambi talked about her upbringing education and battling endometriosis. TUKO.co.ke shared five things you didn’t know about her, go through 1. Where did Njambi Koikai grow up? Njambi grew up in Kawangware, Dagoretti North, Nairobi county and was raised by Mummy and her biological mother. Njambi spoke highly of her grandmother, describing her as a kind, fire, a great cook, amazing, a life coach, vicious with ambition, and a fashionista, among other sweet words. “She always insisted that you must look good good no matter the circumstances. This was mummy’s outfit that she bought in 1972,” she said in the Engage Talk video while pointing at her stylish outfit. The media personality disclosed Mummy was a hustler and ensured she was educated. She was taken to an elite primary school in Nairobi, where she sat for her exams and passed with flying colours. 2. When did Njambi Koikai’s battle with endometriosis start? The media personality narrated how her period started when she was 13 years old and had no idea it was the beginning of her worst nightmare. “When I turned 15, Mummy took me to a gynaecologist, and he said whatever I was going through was very normal, and the pain would go away after I got a child,” she recalled. Njambi said she grew up knowing it was normal, but while in high school, things became worse. “The pain was worse, and I had no clue what this was,” she narrated. Njambi completed high school and joined Daystar University, but the painful menses did not stop. “My days at Daystar were brutal. The pain was immense,” she recalled. After graduating, she joined the media, where she worked in different media houses, but she revealed her health continued to deteriorate as days passed by. After graduating from USIU, her long medical journey began. “I was later diagnosed with thoracic endometriosis stage 4. I call it apocalyptic pain,” she recalled. A local doctor asked her to seek treatment abroad because it couldn’t be treated locally. 3. Why did Njambi Koikai stop working at KBC? The bubbly celebrity recalled how one day, while reading news on KBC TV, she experienced a lot of pain. Njambi narrated how she lost weight and was only weighing 36kgs, revealing by the time she was diagnosed with endometriosis stage 4, she had already undergone 18 surgeries. “To be scared I was not. I felt Mummy’s words and would always see her in my face. My mum was scared. She had seen it all,” she remembered. “I had to stop reading news because endometriosis was sporadically spreading all over my body. In 2016, there was a retrenchment at a private media house I was working in and I lost my job. I came home to find Mummy very sick, and two weeks later, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer stage 4, and it broke my heart to see her silent and weak,” she recalled. Njambi said Mummy became senile, and she, her mother and sister were there for her, and in 2015, she passed away. She died in her mother’s arms. 4. Njambi Koikai had three degrees Njambi studied her first degree at Daystar University. The media personality revealed after her grandmother’s death, she went to USIU to study for her third degree. “After eight years I graduated with collapsed lines with my third degree,” she narrated. 5. Njambi Koikai’s near-death experience In March 2018, Njambi travelled to the US, where she was hospitalised for several months. “I did more surgeries, making it 21, and I was tired. I was like, ‘God, I have fought, and it doesn’t seem like it is getting better’. Throughout all this, I never cried, but this was the first time I cried. I cried not because of the pain but because this process was not ending, and I was mentally out of it,” she recalled. She narrated how she endured pain during the process (at an Atlanta hospital). “Doctors performed pleurodesis… I had gone through the procedure five times, and this time it was very horrific. It was something I had never experienced in my life. While they were pushing the medic*tion, it started spilling over to my nasal airways, and I started choking and burning, and I could just feel oxygen leave my body. I knew this was it. Njambi has ought the good fight. I could feel my limbs get weak, my legs starting to wobble on the bed and Njambi was done, but I opened my eyes through that whole process and saw my mum’s hands on her head and she was crying, wailing looking at her daughter almost losing her life and nurses pulling her out of that room so that they could attend to me as the machines were almost flatlining and I knew I had to fight.If for anything I had to fight for mum, Barbra and me,” she recalled. They Fought Endometriosis Together God gave her a second chance, and after several months in US, she returned to the country. “To see me fighting for my life and come back was very traumatic but also inspiring that we can always come back from anything,” she said. Njambi shared a touching message to the late, Mummy, and she said: “To the biggest life coach I ever had, mummy, Mary Njjambi, love you, miss you, rest in peace.” 6. Njambi Koikai, the bubbly celebrity Apart from being a presenter on TV, Njambi was also a great emcee, host and hype man. The multi-talented media personality had been going around the country hosting reggae shows. Her last event was at Club Oxygen in Siaya county. Njambi was set to host another reggae show on June 1 in Kisumu but she was hospital fighting for her life.
by Caren Nyota