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UN House Bomb Blast... the Amazing Survival Story of a Victim
Written by Ndubuisi Francis Saturday, 19 November 2011
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His liver was affected, his
kidney ruptured, the socket bones of his right eye crushed while his
lips were badly cracked by the August 26, 2011 bomb blasts at the United
Nations building in Abuja. His name was written with red ink and pasted
on the walls of the National Hospital, Abuja. But Mark Ezeh, a Senior
Security Staff at the UN House, survived a grueling 12-hour multiple
operations in Abuja, meaning his case was almost hopeless and a
follow-up nine-hour operation in Johannesburg. He just returned to the
country to tell his incredible survival story. Ndubuisi Francis reports…
That black Friday, August 26, 2011, Mark Ezeh, a senior security staff
with the United Nations at the UN House within the Central Business Area
in Abuja had returned to Abuja after a week-long official assignment in
Kaduna. Without wasting time, he headed straight to his office to pick
his car before even going home to see his family. But as he made his way
to the car park where he had parked his car before embarking on the
Kaduna trip, a phone call came from a colleague in the office who wanted
to have a brief discussion with him on an official matter. This
suddenly changed his plans.
That call and the change in plans as it turned out would have perhaps
ended his life. Ezeh promptly responded to his colleague’s request. And
within five minutes, he was through with the discussion. He stepped out
of the colleague’s office and was making his way towards the reception
from where he was to exit from the building to the car park. He had
barely stretched his hand to press the button of the automated door to
enable him access the reception when the bombs-the harbinger of tears,
blood, death and sorrow went off. Although he was hit by the deadly
device, he was still lucky as the door to the reception had not opened
for him to step in. Perhaps, if he had stepped in, Ezeh’s story would
have been different today. Truth is most of the victims of the UN House
bomb blasts met their deaths at the reception. Not a single person
inside the reception and cash-point area survived the bomb attack.
Though he was not inside the reception room, yet the destruction and
devastation engendered by the blasts did not spare him. What followed
was a blackout that was to last for two weeks for Ezeh.
Coming to Terms with His Injury…
Ezeh was to come to terms with the tragic incident in a hospital in far
away Johannesburg, South Africa. Initially, there was confusion over
whether he was back from Kaduna. When some of his colleagues confirmed
this, the search and rescue effort commenced. He was among the victims
of the bomb blasts evacuated and rushed to the National Hospital, Abuja.
His wife, who had heard about the incident, was frantically calling his
phone numbers but the signals from Ezeh’s end were dead. She scurried
to the scene of the attack and was told to go to Aso Rock Clinic from
where she was re-directed to the National Hospital. On getting to the
hospital, all efforts to ascertain where her husband was and his status
were fruitless until at long last, a hospital staff took her to the
casualty section where her husband’s name was among the three victims,
whose names were written in red ink and pasted on the wall, meaning his
case was almost hopeless.
At this point, Ezeh was undergoing multiple operations in the theatre by a team of doctors, battling to see if his life could be saved. After a grueling 12-hour operation, he was wheeled out of the theatre. But it was then that his real ordeal began. Rather than be taken to the intensive care ward of the hospital as the normal practice would dictate, Ezeh was wheeled to the male ward and literally abandoned there. From the time he was taken to the male ward till the next day, nobody attended to him. But his wife who had four days before the blast relocated with her children to Abuja from Lagos was restless. 24 hours after the blast and after a 12-hour operation, Ezeh remained unattended to at the male ward. He was almost being suffocated by blood, which had blocked his nostrils without any medical personnel to evacuate same from his system.
But Ezeh’s wife would not give up. She called officials of her
husband’s employers, UNICEF, who promptly responded by rushing to the
hospital. That changed the situation and saved Ezeh’s life. He was
instantly included on the list of those to be evacuated to South Africa
via an air ambulance.
Evacuation to Johannesburg…
On Monday, August 28, Ezeh was flown to Netcare Milpark Hospital in
Johannesburg, South Africa. He remained in a critical condition. Doctors
in the South African hospital also gave him a little chance of
survival. Another operation that lasted nine grueling hours was carried
out on him in South Africa. His liver was affected, he had a ruptured
kidney, the socket bones of his right eye were crushed by the blast and
his lips had cracked. For the ruptured kidney, the doctors said the
major challenge would be to successfully stitch it and that if the
stitching was successful; Ezeh had scored a major victory. The stitching
was a near flawless exercise, a plastic surgery was carried out to
replace the broken eye socket bones, and the cracked ribs were repaired.
For two weeks, Ezeh remained unconscious and was still wearing an
oxygen mask. When he finally regained consciousness, his wife who joined
him in South Africa few days after he was evacuated from Nigeria, was
by his side. Oblivious of where he was, Ezeh asked for his children to
be brought to him. At that point, the wife told him that he was in a
South African hospital. He was not convinced. She told him to take a
look at the hospital ward and find out whether it had any Nigerian
setting, considering the high number of white doctors and other medical
personnel around. Alarmed by the statement, Ezeh made to spring up from
the bed, reeling off questions upon questions on what brought him to
South Africa. He soon discovered that his legs and hands were in
fetters. Then, the reality dawned on him. His spouse narrated what
happened to him.
Recovery Rate Unbelievable…
After the operation in South Africa and sensing the critical state he
was, a nurse was attached with strict instructions to sit and monitor
Ezeh closely and to ensure that whenever he wanted to answer the call of
nature, it was done while still on the hospital bed, which was designed
with facilities for such. But he would have none of that. The first day
nature called, Ezeh insisted he would stand up from the bed, go to the
toilet and defecate. The nurse was begging and cajoling him to defecate
while on the bed as instructed. The pleas fell on deaf ears as Ezeh went
to the toilet on his own, advising the nurse to only keep an eye on him
while he walked down the toilet.
The nurse and others around the hospital watched in utter disbelief
that a man in such critical condition with major surgeries could stand
up from bed and go to the toilet unaided few days after the operation.
Through with the toilet, instead of lying down, he moved to a corner of
the bed and sat down. Around that time, a UN Counselor who was
dispatched from the UN headquarters in New York to see how Ezeh and
other staff involved in the bomb attack were faring walked into the
hospital ward and screamed in bewilderment when she could not find Ezeh.
When she was told that Ezeh was the one sitting on the bed, she was
initially dumb-founded and confounded all the more.
From that point, Ezeh’s recovery rate was unbelievable. He started
eating. He was finally discharged on October 27, two clear months after
the deadly bomb attack. He did not know what awaited him on his return
to Nigeria.
Return to Nigeria…
When the aircraft touched down in Lagos, a big surprise awaited him.
The red carpet reception he received from the UN staff and management
was only reserved for presidents and royalties. Everyone hugged and
patted him on the back. Ezeh was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love.
The same reception was replicated by the UN staff and management when he returned to his base in Abuja. Scores of colleagues who saw him and the state he was were amazed that he was now on his feet devoid of any form of deformity. While acknowledging that only God could have made his survival from the bomb blast possible, Ezeh has nothing but immense appreciation to the management of the UN and his immediate employers, UNICEF, for the love and exclusive medical care given to him and other colleagues who were victims of the bomb attack. When he mounted the podium to testify of God’s miraculous deliverance from the bomb attack last Sunday in his church-the Regional Headquarters of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Ministries, Nyanya, Abuja- the congregation erupted in wild jubilation and praise of God’s awesome intervention in his life. Ezeh took about 40 minutes to tell the story of his travails and survival. He said nothing else could have accounted for his deliverance from an obvious grave than God.
In an interview with our correspondent, who also saw the near-hopelessness of his situation then at the National Hospital, Abuja before his evacuation to South Africa, Ezeh said everyone who saw him after the bomb attack had given up on him. He said a close relation who saw him after the blast went to the village to tell them that he was already dead and that confusion took over the land. Ezeh said when he visited the office after his return from South Africa, his colleagues told him that he should hold on to God as his survival was only a great miracle wrought by God. He was told that everyone who was at the reception when the bomb occurred was killed in the blast and that he was just few seconds away from the reception before the bombs went off.
Ezeh told THISDAY that despite the impact of the bomb blast on some vital parts of his body system, after the surgeries in South Africa, medical examination proved that all the affected parts are in perfect working condition. This detracts from the experiences of others. Most of those who are alive after the attack, returned with one deformity or the other. Again, out of the three of them whose names were written in red ink at the National Hospital and who were given a little chance of making it, one had died in South Africa.
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