David Simon, whose life changed forever as a teenager in 2014, shares with AYOOLA OLASUPO how he lost his two arms, the pain of being disabled, and his discovery of several adaptive methods
Where are you from?
I’m a native of Onicha Igboeze in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
What happened to your arms?
I lost my two arms in February 2014 while trying to assist somebody to save his shop from being demolished because the shop was among those that were marked for demolition at Apo Mechanical Village in Abuja.
What service was the person rendering at the shop?
He used to sell vehicle spare parts.
How did assisting someone to save his shop lead to the loss of your arms?
I was working in a motor garage at Apo Mechanical Village in Abuja as a general apprentice learning how to repair Peugeot vehicles. The shop was to be demolished on February 18, 2014.
So, there was a particular man whose shop was also marked for demolition. He came to our garage and pleaded with me and other apprentices to come help him relocate his container from where it was to where he wanted it to be to avoid demolition.
When I arrived there, there was a metal pole lying on the floor beside his container. The shop owner asked me to bring it from outside to the entrance, and we went round between the left and right-hand sides of the container so that it would penetrate or shift for us to be able to bring out the container, because there were other containers beside his.
While trying to raise it from my right-hand side to a secure side at my left, without knowing that there was a high-tension wire above us, the pole touched the high-tension wire, and it caused me a lot of damage. I was shocked by electricity and had severe burns on my hands and legs.
What happened when the incident happened?
I was rushed to a clinic, then to a health centre, and eventually to Asokoro General Hospital in Abuja. The reason I was being moved was that the clinic and the health centre said they could not handle it. So, I was transferred to Asokoro General Hospital, where I stayed for three weeks.
At that place, I underwent two surgeries on the arms, and one was successful. The last one I had, the arms became very stiff, dry, and black, so the doctor said there was no other option than to amputate the affected parts, and my arms had to be cut off.
But my family members thought there would have been better ways than cutting off the affected parts. So, the doctor advised us to go for a herbal remedy, and we were discharged from the hospital and got admitted to a traditional centre where herbs and roots are used for treatment.
I stayed there for only one day and some hours before the hand became more infected. So, we were advised to visit an orthopaedic hospital, and we were referred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Enugu State, and that was where the amputation of the arms was done. Since then, I have been living my life with no arm.
How have you been coping with the condition?
I am used to the stigmatisation and other things attached to it, facing challenges in doing some things I could do before the incident, and since the fingers and the hands are no longer there, I will have to rely sometimes on people to help me. I will hide some other times. I try to do some other things for myself. It’s not really easy, but I don’t allow it to bring me down.
How old were you when the incident happened?
I am 29 years old now. It should be when I was 18 years old.
Were you living with your parents then?
I was living with my father then.
What was your family’s contribution to your treatment when it happened?
They were the ones who sorted out most of the hospital bills. People who knew about the incident at that time also contributed and supported me in some way they could, but it didn’t go far enough to add up to what was required then.
How much did you spend on the surgeries?
Honestly, I do not know because it was my father and my uncle who did most of those things. My father didn’t have much, but with the help of my uncle and some other individuals who helped, I saved my life then. So, I don’t know much about the total amount that was spent.
What is your highest level of education?
I’m not a graduate. I stopped secondary school because of certain financial issues, and that was what led me to learn those skills.
Did you undergo any training to be able to utilise the remaining part of the arms?
I didn’t undergo any particular training or learn how to do some of those things, such as picking up my bag, washing my clothes, or how to clean myself when I use the restroom.
But it’s just that something came to my mind on how to do some of those things, because there are things I know that, when I had that accident, there were people who would volunteer to do it for me at that time.
But they will not continue to do it for me, and they will not always be there for me. So, I had to start developing myself on my own. I didn’t just start once; I didn’t just learn how to clean up myself once.
There are other methods I tried that failed, but I got the particular one that I’m now used to, even washing my clothes and shoes, bathing myself, or picking up my bag.
There were other methods that I tried, but they failed, yet I kept trying. I got the one that I got accustomed to for my use, and I know that it is good for me.
Can you describe the kind of life you were living before the incident?
I’m not the kind of person who likes going out. I’m the kind of person who lives from our house to the shop and vice versa. I would say I am more like an introvert.
How did the realisation of losing your two arms at an early stage shape your experience?
Losing my arms made me see life in a very different way. I got to know a certain kind of life or the behaviours of some other people in terms of discrimination and stigmatisation such that some people don’t want to associate with me because of my condition. It is sad that I faced all this.
Again, some people who do not know the true story behind my condition always come up with one story or the other and label me with it. That gives me the mindset of always being conscious of whatever I’m doing and being careful.
At what point did you start feeling isolated because of what people do or say about you?
Within the first year and a few months when it happened, at some point, I found it difficult going out because of the kind of looks I got from people. They stared at me differently as if I looked different, but at some point, I became used to it—not because people stopped looking at me.
Even when I go out now, there are some people who still see me and give me some kind of weird look, but I’ve become used to it, and I have to keep pushing, continue to focus on what I’m doing.
What is the source of your motivation or inspiration?
My motivation is myself and what I want to become in life. Knowing that this particular thing I want to do—if I call Mr A to help me do it, he or she may be in a good mood at that time to help me. But there may be a day when the same person may not be around or in the mood to help. So, I motivate myself to do those things by myself before anyone else even tries to help me.
What are some of the challenges that you face as someone living with a disability?
Some of those challenges I would say I face as someone with disability are doing the common things that every other human being living out there can do. There are some things I know that at my age, I am supposed to know how to do or I can do, but due to being conscious of my arms and not to cause more injuries or harm myself, I will be restricted from doing some of those things.
Are you married?
Not yet.
Did you go through any moments of depression or self-blame, and how did you cope with the trauma?
There was no time I went through anger. I can only talk about blame, and I say that is because sometimes I ask some people for assistance to help me do one or two domestic tasks, and maybe the person responded to me with harsh words. But I will not have to respond back to the person in a harsh way, either.
Deep down inside me, I’ll say within myself that it’s because I don’t have hands—that’s why I’m being talked down on like that, because if I had the hands, I believe I wouldn’t have asked for their help. The man I went to help the other time, when the incident happened, later denied ever calling me to assist him.
I don’t know—maybe he thought my parents and family would say that he would be the one to cater for me or take up responsibility for my bills. When he was asked what really happened, he denied ever calling me. He said he didn’t even know I was there. The whole issue became like a drama between him and my family members.
So, I had to send for him, and when he came, I asked him the same question as my dad, but he didn’t say a word and left. Whenever I remember his action, sometimes I feel like if I had known or foreseen what would happen, I wouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Did you feel betrayed when you heard that from the man?
I felt betrayed because at some points, my dad began to ask me again, “What happened exactly?” So, I had to explain myself countless times. That was what led me to call him in the presence of my dad, for my dad to know that I knew what I was saying. The man knew that I understood what happened and what he tried to do. So, he left without a word.
How do you handle people’s assumptions or misconceptions about your condition?
I leave them to their thoughts. I don’t have the time to explain myself too much because no matter how many times I explain myself, I still get those comments. Sometimes on my TikTok page, whenever I post, I get comments like “Don’t help him o.” That’s what people say, so sometimes I don’t reply to those particular comments, except for those who want to know and inbox me.
For such people, I will make videos about what happened. When I started posting on TikTok, I never posted any pictures of those things that happened to me, but because of people saying, “Why not share for others so that they too can learn?”
That was what led me to some pictures of me in the hospital bed, when the incident happened. Most people come up with negative words. I just leave them to their thoughts because I believe one day, they will realise that, truly, it wasn’t what they were thinking.
Do you plan to get artificial arms?
I’m interested in getting prosthetics, but I don’t have the money to get them. There are people whom I know can assist. Some people I know call and make videos of me. Sometimes they will call me and promise, but they never fulfill.
I have a case of someone who promised to give me N1m to complement my business, but suddenly, he stopped responding. So, I guessed that maybe he just used it to gain popularity.
I just look at people who will get my videos from my page, go to their social media pages, and post them. I see something like that. Someone got my video from my TikTok page and posted it on his Facebook page.
I have to get a lot of demand from the person who reached out to me. He got my number, but didn’t post my account number; rather, he posted his. But in order not to cause trouble or make an argument, I just let him do what he chose to do.
What do you do for a living now?
I have a store where I sell cold pure water in bulk. People come there during market days, they buy and also sell.
Is the business booming for you?
Our market is occasional. That is because it opens once in four days. So, if I purchase bags of pure water from the company, they bring in sometimes 200 to 250 bags of pure water, and after selling, I may realise a gain of N20,000 to N30,000, depending on the fuel consumption. We don’t have electricity here, and I can’t afford solar lights at the moment.
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