Former Harambee Stars player Martin Imbalambala on Thursday, December 15, painted a picture of how his life changed after losing his eyesight in 2018.
In a recent interview with The Buzz Kenya, the father of three detailed that the incident occurred in November 2018, when he had relocated to his brother's house in Thika because of a knee injury.
At the time, he began experiencing constant headaches and fevers that escalated as the days passed by.
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“It was on November 2018. I fractured my right knee and decided to relocate to my brother’s house in Thika with my family.
“While at Thika, I went for agility training with Bidco, because it was the only team around. After a week, I woke up and went for a training session.
“At around 1.00 pm, I returned home since I was not feeling well, so I decided to sleep. When I woke up at 6.00 pm, the headache had faded away. I watched the TV, but at 9.00 pm, I started experiencing a headache again. I didn’t take supper that day. I only took some medicine and went back to sleep,” Martin divulged.
The midfielder, who joined AFC Leopards immediately after completing his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), added that the headache aggravated the next day.
“At around 3.00 am, my entire body was painful, and my legs had swollen. I could not even move my hands. So, I used Kaluma (pain relief medicine) and went back to sleep.
“I used to go for training sessions at 6.00 am, so when it reached that time, I told my wife to switch on the lights because I wanted to prepare for the session. We used to attend training sessions at 7.30 am every day.
“My wife told me the light was on. I was shocked. I requested her to hand me the phone, but when I scrolled through it, I could hear the vibrations, but I could not see the light,” he continued.
After witnessing what had happened, his wife made a distress call to the player's brother.
His sibling took him to Thika Level Four hospital, where the doctors gave him an injection and informed him that he would regain his eyesight within 30 minutes.
However, that did not happen. Martin tried to look for medication at different hospitals, including Sabatia Eye Hospital (Vihiga County) and Lions Eye Hospital (Nairobi County).
Furthermore, Imbalambala explained how popular football presenter, Fred Arocho and Kenya Society for the Blind (KSB) director, Sam Waweru, turned his life around.
He stated that the duo went to his village home in Vihiga County, brought him to Nairobi, and made sure he studied at the institution.
Thanks to their efforts, Imbalambala recently graduated and got an opportunity to represent individuals with disability at the Kenya Footballers Welfare Association (KEFWA).
Imbalambala has previously featured for several clubs in the country, including Vihiga United and Nakumatt FC.
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