He took a walk to the well; told them he couldn’t breathe, and that was the last thing he remembered…..
My colleague almost died of an asthma attack, few minutes more and he would have been gone; he wasn’t only a colleague but a friend and roommate in college. We lived together for four years; from 2017 till late last month when we wrote our final exams and parted ways.
We met during our first year and we’ve been close ever since, a lot of people think we’ve known each other before coming to the university while others think we’re brothers because we do things basically the same way or almost the same way. We’ve been close ever since and ever since I knew he was asthmatic, I’ve always monitored his health and made sure he wasn’t out of inhaler before getting a new one.
His project defense is scheduled for next week Thursday which is why he had to return to school to make necessary arrangements with his supervisor. It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t there with him this time.
I received a call 6.am yesterday morning from a strange number, picked and the information was “David had an attack and was rushed to the hospital”. That was some bad news; I had to confirm if he was fine and the response was yeah, he’s getting better, after which I had to call our other roommate who had already returned home as well but stayed not too far from the school. I was really tensed and the sleep had to miraculously disappear from my eye while I followed up via calls and text.
The story was; his inhaler finished since the middle of the night and he was the only one in the room, he kept managing and managing his breath from around 2.am till he couldn’t take it anymore and forced his way out of the room to the compound. Luckily there was someone at the well. According to the person at the well, David met him at the well, told him he couldn’t breathe and he passed out immediately. For privacy purpose I had to name him “David”. Everyone had to wake up at that moment while they looked for bike out there; it was a rural area and you can’t get anything out there until 6 or 7.am, luckily they were able to get a bike which they used to convey him to the hospital. He was basically dead; I’d say he got lucky and the universe wasn’t ready to let go of him, getting a means of transport by 4am was a miracle because it was basically a dead zone and there was no good hospital there as well.
His body was cold, stiff, and his heart wasn’t beating anymore, no movement and no sign of life, but they still took him to the hospital anyway as that was the only hope they had.
He finally woke up after much treatment, I wasn’t at the hospital as I only followed up via calls and text hence I have no idea what kind of struggle the Doctors and nurses went through before reviving him.
The Doctor said “if they had brought him 10 minutes late, he wouldn’t have come back”.
Everything happened, David woke up and that was when he gave them my number to contact me by 6 am. Unfortunately; everything happened but we couldn’t tell his mom unless we intend to make her go crazy or worse-kill her. We wrote our final exams on the 3rd of August, his Dad died the following week and now he almost killed himself due to his carelessness. It’s barely one month after, his mom is still mourning her husband; telling her this would completely throw her off balance and she may lose her life. We could only tell his elder sister on the condition that she didn’t tell their mom.
Sincerely speaking; at the time of writing this, I’m extremely pissed, pissed at David, his carelessness, his attitude towards his health, because I’ve always warned him. I’m so pissed off that I wouldn’t call him to ask about his health. Our other roommate is there with him and I got the information that he is now fine but I will not call David because I’m still pissed. First time he stays in school without me and he almost died.
David almost died on me twice; I saved his life twice, and I’ve always warned him ever since; second year in college he came to the lecture theatre for night class (or night reading as it should be properly called) and left his inhaler at home. He managed till 5.am when the school gate will be opened and I had to follow him home….we were not living together back then, but I had to follow him cos’ I calculated that anything could have happened if I did not.
As calculated, we got to a point and he couldn’t go anymore, he fell on the ground and couldn’t stand up; I had to leave him right there while I ran to his house, searched for the inhaler and ran back to him, he was saved right there. It was a calculated risk but leaving him right there was the only solution. I had to warn him after that and I always made sure he had an extra inhaler, unfortunately first time he stays in school without me and he almost died.
I was so pissed off yesterday that I couldn’t take it anymore but had to call my best friend at midnight to explain everything that happened, she had to give me the most soothing words while asking me to call him regardless of his attitude and carelessness. I’m still pissed off but I guess I have to listen to my Best friend.
Time of death: 4:am!
This could have been his recorded time of death; but the universe wasn't ready to let go.
Toodles!