The brother of the late Afolabi Mabogunje who was stabbed by hoodlums at Anthony, Lagos while waiting for fellow cyclists has recounted how the incident happened and the struggle to save his life.
He also paid tribute to his brother, who he described as very caring not only to his blood siblings but to others who came in contact with him.
He wrote: “My brother was riding early on Thursday morning, Sept 9th 2021, at about 5am, as he has done for about 10yrs now or more. He was at the meetup point- The same one as always.
“Then two guys with knives attacked him from behind, while he was off his bicycle and making a phone call to his co-cyclers, stabbing him on both sides of his neck, right side of his chest and left arm. In the right side, a gory wound got the internal jugular vein apart from any other structures. The left got a superficial branch of the internal jugular.
“While struggling/ fighting off the guys his phone dropped, they grabbed it, jumped on a waiting motorcycle and sped off.
“He was gushing out blood with each contraction of the right atrium.
“He needed help, got on his bicycle, held it with one hand, the other hand held his neck wound and rode to a nearby police post but the police were not there. Then he rode to a nearby bank where the security guard had a phone with no credit or data.
“They were lucky a passerby was able to help him call his wife. She came to the spot, picked him up, threw his bicycle in the trunk of the car and sped off to the nearest hospital- Gbagada general hospital!
“They sutured the smaller wounds, gave IV Fluids but had no Cardiothoracic surgeon on ground. So he had to be transferred to LASUTH that had CTSU on ground.
“Then we hit phase 3 delay- accessing the correct care, at the correct time, in the correct way even after finally getting to the hospital!!!!!!!
“We got there at about 8 am, surgery started at about 1.30 pm, no preop resuscitation because they had NO BLOOD!!!! We had to send to Gbagada GH for blood. Friends wanted to donate but the Lasuth blood bank said because of the ongoing ARD strike they didn’t have facilities to bleed the donors!!
“We were in surgery till about 5.20 pm.
“Was undertransfused, as far as I was concerned. He never woke up from anaesthesia!
“He battled the robbers, he fought for his life, we battled the system and systemic failures, everything that could go wrong went wrong!
“We thank God for the life he lived, for finding and fulfilling his purpose in life, for being a big brother and father to many more than his biological children and siblings.
“The Cycology club and all affiliated cycling clubs in Lagos fondly called him the General!
“He inspired us all to push beyond the limits, find and follow your passion.
“I will miss you my dearest bruver, your legacy lives on. See Less
— feeling sad”
