A member of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly representing Upper Nile State’s Renk County, Deng Goch Ayuel, died on Monday at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi from complications related to bleeding in the brain.
The deceased’s son, Kur Deng, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that his father was taken ill last Monday while at home in the Kenyan capital.
“On Monday last week, my father was with his other wife and he said he suddenly felt something snapping in his head. He asked his wife to massage his neck and head but shortly afterward, he started shivering. They immediately decided to take him to the nearest hospital but as they were dressing him, his situation worsened and he developed something like a stroke,” he explained. “They called an ambulance and took him to Coptic Hospital in Nairobi where he was put in the emergency room to stabilize. They scanned his head and found bleeding in his brain. He was never on medication for high blood pressure or diabetes. There was an issue with the people at Coptic Hospital and they did not call the doctor immediately to look at him. The doctor came to see my father after two days.”
Deng added: “They did not call the doctor until we demanded for him and the doctor explained to us that our father had a raptured vein and was bleeding in the brain and that they were trying to find a way to stop the bleeding.”
He said that on Tuesday and Wednesday, the lawmaker was ok and could still recognize people around him.
“On Thursday, he started bleeding again so I thought the best option was to take him to Aga Khan Hospital. The doctor told us what was happening and the risks of what was happening. He bled for the second time on Thursday morning and the doctor told us that they were trying to stop the bleeding.” Deng narrated. “They took him for another scan put him in the ICU, put him on oxygen, and gave him medication to make him stable. On Friday morning, they planned to do surgery to drain the blood out of his brain because the bleeding was too much. Unfortunately, during this process, they found out that his brain was not functioning, his body was not responding to medicine and there was no oxygen in his brain which was already damaged. He was only breathing with the aid of a machine.”
“They told us on Friday evening that my father may not make it because he was brain dead and by Saturday he was struggling, it was very painful, and so, we told them to keep him on the machine until Monday,” he added.
According to Deng, on Monday, the doctors informed the family that there was no way their father could survive because his brain was flooded with blood and pronounced him dead.
Meanwhile, Bol Abraham Garang, the Upper Nile Region Youth Union Secretary for Regional Cooperation and Public Relations in Juba, in a condolence message, said the people of Upper Nile are saddened by the loss of the amiable parliamentarian.
“Hon. Deng Goch Ayuel’s passing comes at a very crucial time in our region as the whole nation concentrates on reuniting the people to achieve socio-economic, political growth and development across the country,” he eulogized. “As the Member of Parliament representing Renk County, the late was guided by his good heart and acumen to deliver services effectively to the people of Renk, Upper Nile State, and South Sudan as a whole. On behalf of the Upper Nile Region Youth Union leadership and my note, I offer our deepest sincerest condolences to the people of Renk County, colleagues in the Parliament, Padang Community, the citizens of South Sudan, and the family of the Late Hon. Deng Goch Ayuel.”
Goch who hailed from the Abiliang Section of the Dinka in Upper Nile State was born in 1966 and was elected to the National Legislature in 2010. Before joining politics, he had an illustrious career as a journalist and was one of the most prominent founders of the Ajras Al-Hurriya Newspaper in Sudan.