Pharell Simiyu, a man from Bungoma County, nearly lost his life after his family bought and ate meat that was later suspected to contain traces of veterinary medication used to treat sick cattle.
Speaking in an interview with Mercy Ndaru, Simiyu recalled that in his village, it was common for some people to secretly slaughter cows belonging to wealthy landowners and then sell the meat at unusually low prices.
A kilogram that normally costs KSh 400 would go for as little as KSh 200, which drew many buyers, including his family.
What happened to Pharell Simiyu?
On the fateful day, a man came selling dried, roasted meat at a very low price. The family bought and prepared it for a meal, and by Simiyu’s account, it tasted perfectly fine. Within 10 to 20 minutes of eating, however, his stomach began churning violently.
He vomited repeatedly and grew increasingly weak. By midnight, he was passing blood. With no motorcycles or phones available in the area at the time, his family struggled to find transport.
They eventually pushed him to a nearby bus stage, where they waited for over two hours before a matatu driver, moved by the sight of the young man lying helpless on the ground, agreed to let passengers shuffle their legs and make space for him on the floor.
At the hospital, doctors were alarmed. His skin had changed colour, his pulse was almost undetectable, and his body was severely dehydrated. He was placed in a ward reserved for the most critical patients, located close to the mortuary.
How long did Simiyu stay in the mortuary?
Despite the doctors’ efforts, they could not identify what was causing his rapid deterioration. At some point, his limbs stopped responding entirely.
His eyes had bulged and his teeth protruded from extreme dehydration. The nurses attending to him reportedly began preparing documentation as though he had died and transferred him to the mortuary, where he reportedly lay for close to three hours.
Back in his village, word had already reached the family. His mother, who was also suffering from diarrhoea, and other relatives received news that he had not survived. Crying spread through the home and funeral preparations reportedly began.
Then, something shifted. A person checking on patients in the mortuary noticed what appeared to be a faint sign of movement in one of Simiyu’s hands and raised the alarm. Doctors rushed back, confirmed he was still alive and immediately resumed treatment, administering intravenous fluids.
Simiyu recovered. The medical team later theorised that the meat had come from cattle that had been injected with veterinary medication before dying. The medication was believed to have remained in the meat and entered the bodies of those who consumed it, triggering the severe reaction.
Simiyu said he still remembers two moments from that ordeal with particular clarity: a group of church women who stopped on their way to a service to pray over him at the roadside, and a neighbour who never left his side throughout the entire ordeal, someone he says he hopes to find one day to express his gratitude.
