Medipark’s miracle patient finds love

For months, Fillipus Sakeus (37) was in a non-responsive state in Ongwediva Medipark’s intensive care unit. His friends and family had begun to give up hope.

“I was in a critical state. People at home started preparing for the announcement of my death and ultimate mourning period. They arranged things. Cleaned the house.

“Little did they know that our plans are God's plans,” he said.

Almost six years later, he spoke to Namibian Sun in the company of a special someone - Albertina Inkono.

Back at Medipark where his journey took a dark turn several years ago, he invited this publication and his medical team to share in his joy – the two are set to tie the knot later this month.

Fateful day

On 18 August 2016, Sakeus was diagnosed and operated on for an intracerebral arteriovenous malformation of the left parietal lobe with spontaneous hemorrhage – basically, a tangle of blood vessels in his brain started to bleed.

He underwent two other operations due to complications from the same condition.

He has since had several treatments, his neurosurgeon Dr Badra Aliou Kone said.

Sakeus continues to receive treatment for epileptic seizures as well as physiotherapy and internal medicine “to control his hemodynamic state”.

He has weakness to his right side as a permanent defect, “despite more than a year of physiotherapeutic treatment”, as well as absence epilepsy and depressive-anxious syndrome, according to the doctor.

Sakeus vividly remembers the fateful day that landed him in hospital and on his supposed death bed.

At the time, he was a detective at Khorixas Police Station. He had been attending a workshop in Ondangwa when he didn’t feel well. He stood up and left the room and before he could enter his accommodation, he fell to the ground.

A colleague who had followed to see where he had gone found him on the floor.

He was rushed to Onandjokwe hospital. A few hours later, he was transferred to Medipark.

He was unconscious when he arrived at hospital. He only woke up more than a month later, and was completely unaware of his surroundings during this time.

When the doctors broke the news of what happened to him, he couldn’t respond or move. He could, however, hear everything they said.

It would take him over a year to recover.

“During my time in hospital, I moved closer to God,” he said.

Meeting his love

In 2017, while going for a follow-up treatment with Kone, he met Inkono. She has been by his side ever since.

“I personally wanted to say thank you to Medipark - from the top management to the general workers - for the love, care and patience. Their service is exceptional.

“People say if one comes to this hospital, they will die. I can testify that that’s not true.”

When Sakeus finally returned to work in 2019, he was transferred to the north and relieved of detective duties. He has been assigned lighter tasks.

The last time he had a seizure was in 2020. Just two years before that, he was seizing at least three times a week.

While his speech has not completely recovered – he still stutters sometimes and can take a while to find the right word – this does not frustrate him. He said time heals all and soon this too will change, or simply become another part of his story.

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