A Nigerian lady who as a secondary school student in 2005 survived the Sosoliso Plane crash in Port Harcourt with severe burns, on Saturday stole the show in far away America at a major public event.
Nkechi Okwuchi impressed the judges and audience at the “America’s Got Talent” show watched across the vast country and around the world, with her emotional rendition of Ed Sheeran “Thinking Out Loud” song.
Earlier in May 2015, 10 years after surviving the horrific accident, she had graduated First Class from St. Thomas University, Texas, and was inducted into six academic honor societies.
The most outstanding student in Economics, she was accepted into graduate school for her MBA and chosen to give commencement address to the Class of 2015 at her school.
Miss Okwuchi was a student of Loyola Jesuit College, a boarding high school in Abuja, and was on her way home for holiday when the crash occurred.
She was one of the only two surviving victims of the plane crash.
“I remember just saying I don’t know but I think we should pray or something, I don’t know. We actually never got a chance. That’s the last memory I have before I blacked out,” she said recalling the crash in which most of her school mates died.
She explained that the next thing she knew was that she woke up in Milpark Hospital, South Africa.
Miss Okwuchi has since had more than 100 surgeries, including skin grafts in the U.S. as a result of burns all over her body. She revealed that doctors implanted pins to support her hands.
Despite these challenges, she has not stopped reaching for greatness, a determination that was accorded special recognition with her invitation to give the performance at the popular American show on Saturday.