Baby Satrin Osinya

By Hellen Miseda and Christine Koech

Nairobi, Kenya: As the world anxiously waited for the outcome of Baby Satrin Osinya’s operation, the team of doctors knew the hopes of the boy’s family and a whole nation rested on their shoulders, and that is why everything had to go right.

“I knew how big a deal this was and that is why I said a prayer before we embarked on the surgery. I told Jesus, ‘I leave this baby in your hands let everything go well’,” said the Head of Neurosurgery at Kenyatta National Hospital Peter Mwangi.

Dr Mwangi was the team leader of five experts who operated on Satrin.

The other neurosurgeons were doctors Julius Kiboi, Samuel Njiri, Mohan Nilesh and Chris Musau.

“Out of this tragic situation I know something big will come out of it. I see a young Mandela in this boy. He has gone through so much at a young age and to crown it all, he has been left motherless after the whole experience. Like Mandela, I know he will forgive the people who did this to him and killed his mother. This young man will one day unite Kenya,” Dr Mwangi told The Standard Tuesday in an exclusive interview.

“As I operated on him, as a father, I was seeing a young beautiful man in his 20s in a good college. One day he will look back at what was done for him and he will have learned what to do to others. He will appreciate the people that prayed for him and enabled him to reach that far,” he added.

So connected was Dr Mwangi to this particular case that he asked his fellow church members to back him in prayers as he and his team embarked on the three-hour intensive operation.

The journey to operate on Baby Satrin began last week.

Mwangi said the child had to be prepared for the major operation hence the delay.

“We did a neurological assessment, a scan of his nervous system and his vision system. We also did several CT scans and x-rays to see whether the bullet was moving,” he said.

On Monday, at around 10:30am, the child was transferred to the radiologists.

There, a team of experts sat with the radiologist to try and localise the size of the bullet.

Neurosurgical unit

“The child was transferred to the radiologists who got the exact dimension of the bullet by millimetres,” said Dr Mwangi.

Afterwards, the child was taken back to the neurosurgical unit in readiness for the operation on Tuesday.

Satrin’s father (Benson Osinya) was informed of the operation and taken through what it would entail and thereafter, he signed the release form.

From then on, the child was monitored by the minute.

Come Tuesday, Satrin was wheeled to the theatre at 8:00am. First he was put to sleep by the anaesthesiologist Dr George Njogu in readiness for the date with destiny.

“When the child was unconscious, doctors made a standard occipital opening (opening of the skull), opened the brain, located the injury, and intricately dissected the brain and removed the killer bullet. It had made a 6.5cm deep hole,” said Dr Mwangi.

After the delicate and successful operation, the experts carefully closed up the wound.

After the operation, Satrin woke up from the induced sleep in an upbeat mood.

“The child is very strong. He is just the way he came from Mombasa. He was a bit weak from the surgery but his spirits were high as always. We have given him painkillers to control the pain,” said Dr Mwangi.

Satrin was then wheeled back to the Neurointensive Theurapeutic Unit for recuperation. The doctors are now closely monitoring him for any side effects such as epileptic attacks and vision problems.

“We are confident everything will go well and he will have no major side effects,” Dr Mwangi said confidently.

If all goes well, the doctors intend to discharge Baby Satrin within a week.