By RACHEAL OLAYIWOLA & MODINAT AMUSA

UNTIL  a freak road traffic accident confined her to the wheelchair in October 2011,   Uchenna Caroline Ikpe  was a vibrant young woman with the world at her feet.

Since that incident, her life has been eclipsed by the dark shadow. A native of Ukana in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, Uchenna, is daughter of a petty trader mother and  taxi driver father

A student of Economics at the Institute of  Management and Technology, IMT, Enugu, Uche  the fourth child in a family of nine,had traveled  to Lagos to visit an aunt who  put to bed.

“On getting to Lagos I board a vehicle for my destination in  Surulere. That was when the accident happened. Another vehicle hit the vehicle I was in at the back where I was seated and immediately I lost consciousness. I woke up few days later and discovered I was paralysed. I was  rushed to hospital where I was referred to the  Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, where I was on admission for 11 months.”

Tests and examinations showed the accident caused unusual shock to her spinal cord. “It  also affected her limbs such that I could not walk or lift myself again. I felt pains all over my body. I have stopped school. I just stay indoors all day,” Uchenna lamented. Doctors have repeatedly adviced her to go to India for corrective surgery, but where is the money?

“We do not have any money again because  we have spent all we have on this issue My family has committed over N1.7 million and now we cannot pay our house rent.”

Medical evaluation  by Forts Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi, India, says Uche requires surgery at the cost of N2.3millionCurrently Uche and her family are squatters witha friend of her aunt.

Uche’s father,  Mathias Ikpe, in an appeal to Nigerians at home and abroad to help rescue his daughter.  “Please help my daughter. Things have not been easy for me as  head of the family. I am a taxi driver I have spent all my money on Uche. Yet she is in pain.

Uchenna’s elder sister, Chizoba, is at her beck and call 24/7 to the extent she cannot  go to her own workplace again. “I  take care of her. She has feeling in her spine but  cannot walk and requires assistance always.”

“We can hardly feed, where  on earth can we get N2.3million? I am appealing on behalf of my sister to well-meaning Nigerians and the Governor of Enugu State Sullivan Chime to please help my dear sister. To help Uche fulfill her dreams to walk again, please send donations through Ikpe Uche,  Keystone Bank, 6001614158. You can call 08067753682 or further details.