Physically challenged Nigerian pharmacist, Blessing Mary Ocheido, has shared the heartbreaking story of how she became disabled.
The UN Youth Committee member on Beijing +25, who recently got married, revealed that she was not born disabled and was a perfect, healthy and vibrant child.
According to her, she stopped walking when a nurse gave her an injection that accidentally hit her sciatic nerve over 20 years ago.
The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria graduate, shared this on Facebook on Thursday, July 1, as she counts down to her 28th birthday.
She wrote;
“It’s officially 14 days to my birthday! As such, my 14 days of gratitude begin today. Today, I’m grateful that a major disability I suffered in my childhood did not destroy me,”
Growing up, I was a rambunctious kid; I loved to play, dance and make mischief. My mum loves to tell stories of my numerous troublesome acts like almost getting myself drowned in the bathtub while everyone was going frantic looking for me.
I was perfect kid- healthy, precocious and beautiful. Then I fell ill with malaria and was taken to a clinic. My mum said the moment the nurse injected me, she knew something went wrong. A large chunk of blood jutted out because apparently, the syringe had gone in wrongly and hit my sciatic nerve. When my mum complained, she was told there was nothing to it.
However, as soon as we got home, I fell in front of the door and that was the last day I ever walked… It’s been over twenty years of navigating a developing society like Nigeria with a disability and I must confess, it has been immensely difficult.
Nevertheless, I’m grateful that my disability did not stop me or define my fate negatively. I have gone on to become almost everything I dreamt of as a child- a pharmacist, writer and owner of a thriving business. Sailing on the wings of my experience, I have even become an international advocate for persons with disabilities working closely with organizations like UN Women, One Young World, British Council, We are Family Foundation, Pollination Project and Voice Global.
There’s much more I have my eyes set on, nevertheless, I’m truly grateful for how far I’ve come in spite of how much life stacked up against me from the start.
I’m grateful that I have been able to look past the hate, the discrimination, the mockery, the pain and to have stayed the course. Totally grateful.”</blockquote
See her post below,
