‘I need a miracle’ — spinal cord injury patient cries for help

Daniel Emori, a spinal cord injury patient who has been bedridden for 22 years, has appealed for urgent assistance.

The 43-year-old from Adadama, Abi LGA of Cross River state, sustained the injury on October 10, 2003, while working as a driver for Rico Pharmaceutical Company in Onitsha, Anambra state.

He told Punch that a cow ran into him during a delivery in Fegge market — leaving him paralysed.

“My name is Daniel Emori. I am from the Adadama community in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River state. I was born sixth in a family of nine,” he said.

After his 2000 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), Emori moved to Onitsha, initially working as a machine operator before becoming a driver.

“The fateful day was on October 10, 2003. As I was on official duty, delivering goods to customers in Fegge, a very popular market in Onitsha, close to River Niger Bridge, I had an encounter with this single uncontrolled cow from nowhere,” he said.

“It lifted me in the air, and it was when I landed on the ground that I broke my neck, and it resulted in my immediate paralysis.”

Doctors recommended surgery in India, but fundraising efforts failed.

“All efforts to raise the required funds to travel to India for some medical surgeries, as stated in the medical report, were not successful,” he added.

“However, I am no longer talking of medical treatment anymore because it seems my prolonged health condition is already complicated medically, unless by a miracle.

“The only things I am appealing and soliciting from individuals, philanthropists, groups of persons, organisations, government and above all, the general public, is just my immediate daily needs, most especially feeding, and some minor medications for my bedsores.”