Actor Von Apochi,a Gulder Ultimate Search 1 contestant, tells his story
of how he survived a horrific fire incident when his car went up in
flames about a month a go in Lagos, leaving him with second degree
burns. Read his story below;
To
say am stunned will be the most mild way to put this... at first my
heart skipped so hard i could feel my hands tremble; had to place a
quick call to my friend and brother Von; well, if you have never met
Von, you'll have no idea how amazing and super supportive of a man he
is.
Anyway, let me cut to the chase and allow you guys to read this super mighty testimony...
''This
is my true life experience, I recently went through the fire and back
alive. I may not share photos now as the pictures are not very friendly
and very worrisome. However, please help me thank God for life and the
miraculous healing. The doctors and nurses have not recovered from the
awe of my miraculous healing God gifted me with.
Several surgeons and
Burn Experts have been thrilled at the miraculous healing. God is
wonderful and real... I saw the Hand of God live in my life; a friend of
mine that is still surprised at the whole healing process while in
shock of excitement, she confirmed to me that she sees a light over me.
This is not one of those oratorical compositions or some popular prose or write up, this is real and true.
I
do not like to think of the way it happened but I will try to explain
part: My car was burnt totally as the fire started from the bonnet of
the car and engulfed the entire car. I was literally engulfed with fire
while I ran alone and helpless along the lonely road beside the Harvey
road cemetery; for those of you who are conversant with Lagos and the
Yaba area, you will understand the loneliness I speak of as this
happened at about 4am on my way back from a quick strategy meeting.
At first my car hit one of those big blocks meant for constructing
gutters. The block was placed by the side of the road instead of being
placed in the gutter, and then the fire started from the bonnet of my
car. With the fire over my body, I screamed, "Blood of Jesus" severally
and dove to the ground to roll but suddenly, the fire went out. At this
moment I could not feel my face anymore, my hands were burnt black.
My
little Von-Edric back at home was crying unusually that morning my wife
said. My wife had called me before the accident to tell me that my son
was crying heavily. I normally change his dippers at night and sometimes
feed him, this is to allow my wife rest at night as the
responsibilities during the day are quite tasking. She then called me
again to ask if I was getting close to the house, then and there I broke
the news to my wife that I was burnt by fire. She screamed and went
into prayers.
At this time my mind was racing through a lot of
things, my acting career, and my job as a business consultant with one
of the multinational companies in Nigeria. Oh my political career, oh my
face, oh my "shakara" lol! Oh my job as the host of miss tourism 2015
oh my... what a devil is this I thought, well, many things went through
my mind. But, in all of that moment the worst of the things that
bothered me was the excruciating pain I was feeling, the pain was so
severe that I felt like knocking off. I had heard that people mostly die
from pain and infection in cases of burn, this thought bothered me
further. All I could do was pray, pray!! And pray!!!
Let me
reserve details of the entire process of the accident for the sake of
post-traumatic stress, I shall continue with the hospital experience
instead. I was rushed to a specialist hospital in Surulere Lagos by some
unknown security men patrolling the area.
The hospital was the
only one I could remember at that time, maybe it is because the hospital
is close to my home because I told then the hospital they should take
me to. We finally got to the hospital, they rushed me inside and handed
me over to the doctor on duty, God bless those men wherever they are.
Whilst in the hospital receiving first aid, the doctor on duty had given
me the strongest pain killer they had in the hospital, he said.
This
pain killer was supposed to knock me out but my eyes were wide open as
my brain was still contending with the pains rather than respond to some
drowsy pain killer. I was so unstable and disturbed; I got up severally
to pace about hoping I could walk away from the pain. Suddenly my wife
walked into the hospital looking worried and of course to also check the
extent of damage the fire had caused but at this point in time, one
could not measure the damage caused as all my face was black like burnt
coal and hands burnt dry. My two lower palms were bruised from the dive,
my thighs were slightly burnt and my upper bum was also burnt, my neck
was burnt from the front but nothing happened to any other part of my
body.
I quickly asked my wife to inform my mother whom I know
would back me up with serious prayers. Please help me say a word of
thanks to my praying wife and praying mother and I thank those who heard
early and prayed for me and those of you praying for me now, God bless
you.
On the third day, my face was swollen to the extent that my eyes
were covered, my hands were swollen also, and my neck was largely
blistered also with my bum blistered too. Too much pain for one brain to
cope with, pain killers were like taking water as injections. I was
steadily on drips, my hands were pierced at random looking for veins; I
was suffering.
This is about a Month now and this is my
testimony… you will appreciate God more when I release the pictures of
my current look and my look then. Yes I had plastic and burn surgeons
consulted; I have a skin specialist working on my face and neck but
believe me these surgeons, skin specialist, nurses and doctors are
marvelled at the healing and recovery of my face and other body parts.
They say there is no medical explanation to this speed and healing
process but they just say, “thank God for you Von, you are a gifted and
blessed child of God”.
I just want to conclude this by saying
Thank God for the miracle of life, thank God for healing and speedy
recovery, thank God for my Wife, Mother, Father, other Family members
and of course you because I believe your lips will say Thank you Lord
for this miracle and testimony.
Von before the fire incident
I am bouncing back to my job and of course back to the movies again fresher and finer.
God bless you all this is my testimony.
