Dear Iyanda readers, there is nothing as traumatic as not being able to do the things you ordinary would have done without anyone’s assistance. I lost my ability to walk or use my feet again because I was obsessed with dangerous driving. My passion for driving at incredible speed knew no bound since my dad got me my first car when I turned the age of 21.
They say birds of a feather flock together; and that exactly describes the group of friends I moved with while I was in the university. We always turned the express roads into race tracks where our lives and safety mattered only a little. It didn’t matter what anyone said, what I only cared about was how to get to the next destination in record time. Not that my parents didn’t bother to caution or warn me about my dangerous lifestyle; I was just obsessed with driving dangerously.
One Sunday afternoon when I was coming back from Lekki in company of a couple of friends of mine, I decided to go against my intuition not to over speed because one of my friends was organizing a party that I had to attend. I just wanted to get to the party on time so I would be able to catch a glimpse of some of the cute girls invited to the party before the place becomes too crowded. My friends were making all kinds of noise, and challenging me; they wanted me to apply more speed to see if I could beat the time we had set to arrive at the venue. Interestingly, the road was very free that afternoon, and there was no reason not to accept their challenge.
I did apply more speed, but the truth of the matter is that the mystery of how I found myself in the hospital alive with my car totally written off is still a mystery to me. The only thing I remember was the car that I was trying to overtake; and whatever happened thereafter is still a mystery today.
I was the only survival of the accident, but not without broken legs. I am not sure I can ever walk on my feet again because I have been in this wheelchair for years now. Two of my very close friends were part of that car crash; and today, they are no more all because of my obsession for careless driving and I can’t seem to forgive myself.
My advice for everyone out there is that you should be careful in life. Sukanmi and Jude are not alive today to tell the story; but the horror of the incident remains green in my memory.
How do I continue to live knowing I might never walk again or knowing the fact that I killed my friends in the accident?
How can I really move on with my life?