For 19-year-old Collins Mwangi visits to the hospital has been his order of the day as long back as he can remember, having been diagnosed with severe pneumonia that led to the near failure of his lungs and now has to depend on an oxygen machine to breathe.

However, despite the challenges, Mwangi stunned the nation after emerging as one of the best students at Nanyuki high school in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) after he scored a B+ plus of 72 points after results were released on Wednesday by Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha.

Mwangi featured among the top 10 disabled students who sat this year’s KCSE and even got recognition by CS Magoha while he was releasing the results at the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) headquarters.

The institution also agreed to fix electric power sockets on the wall next to Mwangi’s desk so that he could plug in his oxygen ventilator while he was in class.

"Despite the challenges my son has undergone, I am glad he posted such impressive results we never expected that have eclipsed the many times he has been to various hospitals especially when his breathing problems worsened,” Ms. Kiama said.

Mwangi says he wishes to join university and study medicine so that he can dedicate his work to assisting patients with similar conditions as his.

“I want to become a doctor and inspire other children who are undergoing health challenges and let them know they can excel academically despite their setbacks,” Mwangi said at his grandfather’s homestead at Icuga village on the outskirts of Nanyuki town.

He said his determination to excel in class was so high that he always carried his tablet during the numerous times he has been admitted in the hospital so that he could catch up with his class notes.

“My teachers were very helpful since even when I missed classes they would send me notes on my tablet to download and read later when my condition improved. I missed many lessons but I worked had to catch up with my classmates whenever I resumed class,” Mwangi added.

His mother said that at one time while in form three he almost missed an entire second term after he was admitted in hospital when his breathing worsened.

She said Mwangi is always on medication to manage the condition and has to take at least nine types of drugs daily and also has to use an inhaler to decongest his lungs all the time.

KNA by Martin Munyi