Emmie Katangwe is a God-fearing Malawian, but something terrible happened just when she was going down on her knees in supplication. The first stroke struck her one chilly June morning four years ago as she knelt to pray. “It felt as if my left thigh had been ripped apart, then came the numbness,” recalls the 65-year-old Blantyre resident.
Her husband called a colleague to pray for her paralysed limbs, but it brought short-lived relief. “When I could move my arm and leg again, I jumped in celebration, convinced that the ordeal was over. However, I suffered two more strokes on the left side within an hour,” she recounts.
Family members and friends in worship took Katangwe to a private hospital that referred her to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre. She did not know what to expect at the Southern Region’s largest healthcare facility. The woman feels lucky to have survived the crippling condition at the hospital where some are pronounced dead on arrival and others die shortly afterwards.
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She salutes caregivers at the health facility for switftly coming to her aid and helping her without shortcuts. Katangwe recalls health workers at QECH conducting a computed tomography (CT) scan before admitting her to Malawi’s first dedicated stroke unit. “Upon entering the unit, I was amazed.
It felt as if I was in a hospital abroad. The interiors, the equipment and the level of care were excellent,” she says. Katangwe spent three days in the specialised stroke unit before being discharged to continue physiotherapy at home.
Today, she has regained full use of her arm and walks with remarkable ease. Still, she continues to undergo physiotherapy at her home—a tale of tenacity and triumph over a paralysing condition that paralyses organs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, depriving brain cells of oxygen.
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