Nollywood actor Vaughn Apochi shared his story of how he was burnt beyond recognition in a car fire accident that occurred along Harvey road cemetery, in the Yaba area of Lagos State.
Thankfully, Apochi, who was among the contestants of Gulder Ultimate Search 1, survived the terrible fire incident last month with second degree burns all over his body.
He seems to have gotten well over the trauma of the bodily damages caused by the accident especially to the face which was badly burnt.
The actor expressed optimism to bounce back and face his career squarely soonest.
Below is a full text of Apochi’s narration:
“To say am stunned will be the most mild way to put this… at first my heart skipped so hard i could feel my hands tremble; had to place a quick call to my friend and brother Von; well, if you have never met Von, you’ll have no idea how amazing and super supportive of a man he is.
“Anyway, let me cut to the chase and allow you guys to read this super mighty testimony…
“This is my true life experience, I recently went through the fire and back alive. I may not share photos now as the pictures are not very friendly and very worrisome.
“However, please help me thank God for life and the miraculous healing. The doctors and nurses have not recovered from the awe of my miraculous healing God gifted me with.
Several surgeons and Burn Experts have been thrilled at the miraculous healing.
He added, “God is wonderful and real… I saw the Hand of God live in my life; a friend of mine that is still surprised at the whole healing process while in shock of excitement, she confirmed to me that she sees a light over me.
“This is not one of those oratorical compositions or some popular prose or write up, this is real and true.
“I do not like to think of the way it happened but I will try to explain part: My car was burnt totally as the fire started from the bonnet of the car and engulfed the entire car.
“I was literally engulfed with fire while I ran alone and helpless along the lonely road beside the Harvey road cemetery; for those of you who are conversant with Lagos and the Yaba area, you will understand the loneliness I speak of as this happened at about 4am on my way back from a quick strategy meeting.
“At first my car hit one of those big blocks meant for constructing gutters. The block was placed by the side of the road instead of being placed in the gutter, and then the fire started from the bonnet of my car.
“With the fire over my body, I screamed, “Blood of Jesus” severally and dove to the ground to roll but suddenly, the fire went out. At this moment I could not feel my face anymore, my hands were burnt black.
“My little Von-Edric back at home was crying unusually that morning my wife said. My wife had called me before the accident to tell me that my son was crying heavily.
“I normally change his dippers at night and sometimes feed him, this is to allow my wife rest at night as the responsibilities during the day are quite tasking.
“She then called me again to ask if I was getting close to the house, then and there I broke the news to my wife that I was burnt by fire. She screamed and went into prayers.
“At this time my mind was racing through a lot of things, my acting career, and my job as a business consultant with one of the multinational companies in Nigeria.
“Oh my political career, oh my face, oh my “shakara” lol! Oh my job as the host of miss tourism 2015 oh my… what a devil is this I thought, well, many things went through my mind.
“But, in all of that moment the worst of the things that bothered me was the excruciating pain I was feeling, the pain was so severe that I felt like knocking off. I had heard that people mostly die from pain and infection in cases of burn, this thought bothered me further. All I could do was pray, pray!! And pray!!!
“Let me reserve details of the entire process of the accident for the sake of post-traumatic stress, I shall continue with the hospital experience instead. I was rushed to a specialist hospital in Surulere Lagos by some unknown security men patrolling the area.
“The hospital was the only one I could remember at that time, maybe it is because the hospital is close to my home because I told then the hospital they should take me to.
“We finally got to the hospital, they rushed me inside and handed me over to the doctor on duty, God bless those men wherever they are. Whilst in the hospital receiving first aid, the doctor on duty had given me the strongest pain killer they had in the hospital, he said.
“This pain killer was supposed to knock me out but my eyes were wide open as my brain was still contending with the pains rather than respond to some drowsy pain killer.
“I was so unstable and disturbed; I got up severally to pace about hoping I could walk away from the pain.
“Suddenly my wife walked into the hospital looking worried and of course to also check the extent of damage the fire had caused but at this point in time, one could not measure the damage caused as all my face was black like burnt coal and hands burnt dry.
“My two lower palms were bruised from the dive, my thighs were slightly burnt and my upper bum was also burnt, my neck was burnt from the front but nothing happened to any other part of my body.
“I quickly asked my wife to inform my mother whom I know would back me up with serious prayers. Please help me say a word of thanks to my praying wife and praying mother and I thank those who heard early and prayed for me and those of you praying for me now, God bless you.
“On the third day, my face was swollen to the extent that my eyes were covered, my hands were swollen also, and my neck was largely blistered also with my bum blistered too.
“Too much pain for one brain to cope with, pain killers were like taking water as injections. I was steadily on drips, my hands were pierced at random looking for veins; I was suffering.
“This is about a Month now and this is my testimony… you will appreciate God more when I release the pictures of my current look and my look then.
“Yes I had plastic and burn surgeons consulted; I have a skin specialist working on my face and neck but believe me these surgeons, skin specialist, nurses and doctors are marvelled at the healing and recovery of my face and other body parts.
“They say there is no medical explanation to this speed and healing process but they just say, “thank God for you Von, you are a gifted and blessed child of God”.
“I just want to conclude this by saying Thank God for the miracle of life, thank God for healing and speedy recovery, thank God for my Wife, Mother, Father, other Family members and of course you because I believe your lips will say Thank you Lord for this miracle and testimony.
