Covid-19 had destroyed 70 per cent of the late Joe Nyagah’s lungs, his brother Norman Nyagah has said.
He however had recovered from Covid-19 but could not breath on his own, hence he had to rely on ventilators in his last moments.
Addressing mourners in Mbeere South, Embu County, Norman said that doctors said that Joe Nyagah could not breath on his own for the rest of his life, hence the family had two choices, to let him live in a ventilator or choose “otherwise”.
“Joe had recovered from Covid and that is why he was moved to ICU…My family continued to see him and encourage him but the lungs were completely destroyed. The doctors gave the family a choice…either he lives in a ventilator or the family thinks otherwise,” he said.
Norman who says that he is affiliated to over 500 hospitals sought to have his brother transferred to India for lung transplant, before his state deteriorated.
“I told the doctors that I am affiliated to over 500 hospitals worldwide…I can actually take Joe to Chennai in India where we can do a bilateral lung transplant and he can survive,” he added.
While he was speaking to doctors, Norman said that Joe suffered a series of cardiac arrests. He called Bishop Joel Waweru, the Anglican Bishop of Nairobi who went to hospital to see and pray for Joe. The next morning, Norman and his wife rushed to hospital and prayed, but Joe had suffered more cardiac arrests and died.
Read: Ex-Minister Joe Nyagah Instructed His Family Not To Bury Him In New Clothes
“I did two things after he died. I shut his eyes and mouth and I was satisfied that I had done God’s will,” he said.
Joe, who died aged 72, was buried next to his grandfather’s grave facing the Mbeere Hills, where locals sought refuge in times of war in the past, as per his wishes.
Joe, a seasoned politician, was a member of Kenya African National Union (KANU) and a minister in President Daniel Arap Moi’s government.
He quit both the government and party in the run-up to the 2002 general election.
In 2017, the deceased vied for the presidency as an independent candidate.
He was also a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party Pentagon in the 2007 General Election, together with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Deputy President William Ruto, Musalia Mudavadi and Najib Balala.
Nyagah passed on last Friday, December 11, at the Nairobi Hospital.
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