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Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju has rewarded the medics who saved his life following a gruesome accident along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway in 2020.
Tuju walked for 57 km from Karen Hospital to Kijabe Hospital and managed to raise a little over Sh11 million for the hospital that saved his life.
“The intervention in this hospital is what has kept me, it was critical,” said Tuju, adding that he had 12 broken bones which had punctured his lungs making breathing difficult.
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Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju and other leaders walking from Karen Hospital to Kijabe Hospital
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The Jubilee Secretary General also met the driver of the matatu which collided into his Toyota Prado and forgave him after 16 months.
“Please forgive me for what happened, it was not my fault,” said Njuguna before the two embraced in a hearty laugh during a visit to the scene of the accident.
The accident left the matatu driver with two broken legs but he has since recovered.
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Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju with matatu driver Bernard Muya Njuguna
Tuju had aimed to collect at least Sh13 million to the hospital and called on well wishers to help bridge the gap.
Near death experience
The CS was bolted from his slumber by the impact of the two vehicles colliding. He felt a sharp pain in his back and asked the first responders to exercise caution as they removed him from the wreckage.
He was rushed to Kijabe hospital in Sports CS Amina Mohammed’s car.
Tuju recounted that after the accident he was convinced that he would not pull through and decided to talk to CS Amina who shut him up.
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The police chopper that airlifted Raphael Tuju from Kijabe Mission Hospital to Nairobi
"I told her I was going to die, I was sure of it and she told me to shut up!" recalled Tuju.
Giving her version of events, Amina who was one of the first people to arrive at the crash scene that day was worried that the Jubilee Secretary General would close his eyes and give up the fight for his life.
“I was scared he would close his eyes, I told him to keep on looking at me. I told him after all I have a beautiful face for him to keep looking at,” she said.
After his surgery at Kijabe Hospital, Tuju was airlifted to Karen Hospital as a nurse manually pumped oxygen into his lungs.
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The car in which Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju was travelling in when he was involved in an accident along the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway on February 12, 2020