By CHIMEZIE ANASO

An Awka-based grassroots football and gymnastics coach, Benson Udeh, bedridden for eight years, has appealed to Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra and other public-spirited Nigerians to come to his aid.

Udeh, who is bedridden with spinal cord injury, made the appeal on Friday, when he spoke with newsmen from his sick bed in Awka.

He said that with the assurances given by the experts managing him, he was hopeful to walk again, if he could have access to the necessary medical care.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Udeh sustained a spinal cord injury in June 2016 on his way to the final of the maiden Gov. Willie Obiano Academicals Football Competition at the Rojenny Stadium, Oba, near Onitsha.

He was leading his team, the Community Secondary School, Aguluezechukwu and Community Secondary School, Isuanocha, when their vehicle crashed at the Oba-Nnewi Road.

He was treated at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Awka, Memphis Specialist Hospital, Enugu and National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu but stopped receiving treatment since 2017.

He said: “Living in solitary confinement for eight years has been the most traumatic experience in my life.

“It has been eight years now since I sustained this spinal cord injury and I have been bedridden since then.

“l thank everybody for the assistance they have given to me but I still want to walk again.

“I call on Gov. Soludo and his sports-loving and compassionate wife to help me.

“I call on lovers of sports and public-spirited Nigerians to support me financially to get the needed medical attention,” Udeh said.

He said that he still love football and wanted to go back to what he loved doing, including helping young people to discover and develop their talents in sports. (NAN)

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