An Awka-based grassroots football and gymnastics coach, Benson Udeh, who has been bedridden for eight years, is appealing to Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State and other compassionate Nigerians to assist him.
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Udeh, who is immobilized due to a spinal cord injury, made his appeal on Friday while speaking with journalists from his bed in Awka.
He expressed optimism that he could regain the ability to walk again with the appropriate medical attention, based on the assurances provided by the healthcare professionals overseeing his treatment.
It was stated that Udeh suffered a spinal cord injury in June 2016 while traveling to the championship match of the inaugural Gov. Willie Obiano Academicals Football Tournament at the Rojenny Stadium, Oba, close to Onitsha.
Udeh was leading his team, the Community Secondary School, Aguluezechukwu and Community Secondary School, Isuanocha when their vehicle collided on the Oba-Nnewi Road.
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He was treated at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Awka, Memphis Specialist Hospital, Enugu and National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu but stopped receiving treatment in 2017.
He said: “Living in solitary confinement for eight years has been the most traumatic experience in my life.
“It has been eight years now since I sustained this spinal cord injury and I have been bedridden since then.
“l thank everybody for the assistance they have given to me but I still want to walk again.
“I call on Gov. Soludo and his sports-loving and compassionate wife to help me.
“I call on lovers of sports and public-spirited Nigerians to support me financially to get the needed medical attention,” Udeh said.
Udeh expressed his enduring passion for football and expressed a desire to return to his beloved sport, as well as to mentor and nurture young talents in sports.
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