{"id":8917,"date":"2025-04-01T15:12:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/?p=8917"},"modified":"2025-04-01T15:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:15:08","slug":"breathing-easy-again-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/breathing-easy-again-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Breathing Easy Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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For\nnine-year-old Eugene Kimuthu Wambui, a student at Ichagaki Primary School in\nMurang\u2019a County, the day appeared normal, filled with laughter, learning, and\nplay. As part of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), his morning was packed\nwith engaging activities such as singing and knitting. However, what began as a\njoyful break time turned into a life-threatening ordeal. During recess, Eugene\njoined many of his schoolmates in plucking ripe plums from fruit trees planted\nwithin the school compound\u2014an initiative aimed at boosting students\u2019 nutrition.\nWith excitement, he climbed up a tree, carefully selecting the juiciest plums\nand tucking them into his backpack. Soon, he was back on the ground, eager to\nshare his harvest with friends. Laughter filled the air as the children enjoyed\nthe fruits\u2014until tragedy struck. In an unfortunate turn of events, Eugene\naccidentally swallowed a plum seed. What followed was an unrelenting series of\nchest pains and persistent coughing.<\/span><\/p>

Unbeknown to his family, the seed had lodged\nitself in his lung, leading to months of discomfort and worsening health. It\nwas not until seven months later that he was brought to Kenyatta National\nHospital (KNH), where a team of specialists successfully removed the seed\nthrough a bronchoscopy procedure\u2014without surgery. Newsline spoke to Eugene\u2019s\nmother, Ms. Judy Wambui Kimotho, who shared her harrowing experience. \u201cMy son\nhad been struggling with a persistent cough since June 2024, so I resorted to\nbuying over the-counter cough syrups,\u201d she explained. \u201cSince I do menial jobs\nin Machakos County, I left him under his grandmother\u2019s care while I worked to\nprovide for him.\u201d Initially, the cough syrups seemed to provide temporary\nrelief. Eugene confided in his grandmother that he had swallowed a fruit seed,\nbut she believed it would pass naturally. In an attempt to help, she gave him\nhot ugali, thinking it would push the seed through his digestive system.\nUnfortunately, the discomfort only worsened.<\/span><\/p>

 By January 2025, Eugene\u2019s\ncondition had deteriorated significantly, forcing Ms. Kimotho to rush back\nhome. Desperate for answers, she took him to a local dispensary, where lab\ntests were conducted. However, results failed to reveal any infections. Despite\ntaking pain medication and additional cough syrups, Eugene\u2019s suffering\npersisted. \u201cMy child would vomit everything he ate for days. He cried through\nthe nights, writhing in severe pain, his ribs aching intensely,\u201d Ms. Kimotho\nrecalled tearfully. Realizing the severity of the situation, she rushed him to\nMaragwa District Hospital on February 7, 2025. A chest X-ray revealed an\nalarming accumulation of fluid around his lungs, prompting an urgent referral\nto KNH. Upon arrival, Eugene was placed under observation and given oxygen to\nstabilise his breathing. Further tests, including a CT scan, pinpointed the\nunderlying cause: a fruit seed trapped in his left lung. A multidisciplinary\nteam at KNH, led by the Head of the Department of Medicine, Dr. Wanjiku Kagima,\nalongside consultant pulmonologist Dr. Andrew Owuor and respiratory nurse Ms.\nJoan Kagema, swiftly intervened. Utilizing a flexible bronchoscope and\ntransbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC)\u2014a procedure that employs a cryoprobe to\nremove foreign bodies from the lungs\u2014 the team meticulously extracted the\nlodged seed. The procedure took less than an hour and was a success, allowing\nEugene to breathe easily again.<\/span><\/p>

Speaking to Newsline, Dr. Kagima said, \u201cWe were\nable to save Eugene\u2019s delicate lungs by employing the cryobiopsy technique. His\nlungs are now clear.\u201d However, she cautioned that due to prolonged use of\nover-the-counter medication, Eugene had developed pneumonia. He was immediately\nadmitted to Ward 4B Critical Care Unit, where he received treatment for\npneumonia and other infections caused by the foreign object. Ms. Emily Onyuro,\nthe Nursing Team Leader of Ward 4B, confirmed Eugene\u2019s stable condition. \u201cHe\nwas placed under our care immediately after the bronchoscopy. For three days,\nhe received antibiotics, chest physiotherapy, pain relievers, and cough\nmedication,\u201d she said. Following the treatment, a final chest X-ray confirmed\nhis full recovery. Eugene has since resumed school, with dreams of becoming a\ndriver in the future. Dr. Kagima urged parents to seek immediate medical\nattention whenever a child swallows a foreign object. \u201cUnorthodox home remedies\ncan do more harm than good. Parents should take their children to a medical\nfacility for timely intervention,\u201d she advised. \u201cAdditionally, prolonged use of\nover-the-counter medication\u2014especially cough syrups\u2014can put unnecessary strain\non a child\u2019s lungs.\u201d As Ms. Kimotho returns to Murang\u2019a County, she carries\nimmense gratitude in her heart. \u201cPeople may sometimes criticize this great\ninstitution, but that\u2019s because they don\u2019t fully understand its expertise. As I\ngo back to the village, I will be your number one crusader because you saved my\nson\u2019s life without discrimination. In your hands, my child was safe,\u201d she\nconcluded, overwhelmed with relief.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For nine-year-old Eugene Kimuthu Wambui, a student at Ichagaki Primary School in Murang\u2019a County, the day appeared normal, filled with laughter, learning, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8917"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8921,"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8917\/revisions\/8921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knh.or.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}