His Life
This is Jackson’s story.
Before 2008
A childhood in Kenya
Jackson Christopher Wangare grew up in Kenya. What survives from those years is what survives for most families — a handful of photographs: a birthday, a new pair of shoes, an afternoon at the coast.
He was a young boy, in good health, with no indication of what was ahead.
Family
The people around him
Jackson's family have been present at every stage of this. His mother stayed with him throughout his hospitalisation, because his condition needed attention around the clock.
2008
The road traffic accident
In 2008, Jackson was involved in a road traffic accident. He was admitted to hospital with a serious head injury and transferred for specialist care.
Imaging showed bleeding within the brain and diffuse injury to the nerve fibres that carry signals for movement — the kind of injury caused by violent force to the head.
2008
Intensive care
Jackson was managed in intensive care for over a week, then moved to the children's ward. In that period he had seizures and severe spasms, lost his speech, and was fed through a tube.
He was discharged home later the same year, still with significant spasms, able to swallow with assistance and beginning to form a few words again.
Recovery
Learning to move again
Recovery meant relearning movement from the beginning. By the end of 2008 Jackson was standing and taking steps with a walking frame.
He continued as an outpatient, and his speech and mobility improved — to a point.
Over time
Tremors that did not settle
The improvement stopped, and the tremors did not. Jackson's records describe slurred speech and significant spasm and tremor in his upper limbs, severe enough that holding a pencil to write was difficult.
Over the following years the tremors became the defining feature of his condition. His current diagnosis is rubral tremor following the 2008 road traffic accident, with associated walking difficulty, unclear speech and a history of falls.
18 years
Eighteen years of adapting
Jackson has organised his daily life around movement he cannot control. Tasks that take most people seconds — fastening a button, lifting a cup, shaving — take concentration, time, or another person's hands.
He has kept going. A 2025 brain MRI, performed because of his altered gait and involuntary tremors, concluded brain atrophy with no evidence of a space-occupying lesion.
Today
Where things stand
Jackson continues with physiotherapy, which helps him stay mobile but does not reduce the tremors. His clinicians describe symptoms that have persisted despite optimal medical management.
Kenya's National Council for Persons with Disabilities records his disability as physical, under acquired brain injuries, caused by an accident.
Looking ahead
A recommended treatment
In May 2026, following an assessment, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre in Mumbai strongly recommended that Jackson undergo Vim/GPi Deep Brain Stimulation surgery with a rechargeable pacemaker and directional leads.
DBS may help reduce Jackson's disabling tremors and support greater movement control and independence. Outcomes vary between patients, and it is a treatment pathway rather than a cure.