"Tulilia sana": Kitale woman involved in accident hours before wedding says
This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.
- Mercy from Ukunda, Diani, was involved in a serious road accident the evening before her wedding at Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Eldoret
- The young woman, who is also a baker, had planned her entire wedding from scratch and baked all 16 kg of her own wedding cake herself
- Despite injuries, trauma and shock, Mercy faced a choice between cancelling and walking down the aisle while in pain from the injuries
Mercy, a professional baker from Ukunda, Diani, was hours away from the most anticipated day of her life when a violent road collision on a wet Thursday evening nearly ended it all before it began.
Speaking to TUKO.co.ke, the wedding, set for November 22, 2025, at Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Eldoret, had been months in the making. Mercy runs her own baking business, which she built from the ground up during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, inspired by a sister who had long noticed her gift for baking as a child.
True to her character, she did not simply show up as the bride. She planned the entire wedding herself, sourced service providers, navigated being conned along the way, and baked all 16 kg of her own wedding cake.
The Night Everything Went Wrong
The cake layers had been baked in Diani, frozen, and transported in a cooler box to Unity Gardens in Eldoret, where the couple was staying.
That same Thursday evening, after a pre-wedding family mass at her parents' home in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia County, Mercy and four others, including her brother, her young daughter, and two friends who had travelled from Mombasa, set off in a car to return to Eldoret in time for her to decorate the cakes overnight.
It was raining lightly. Mercy's daughter had fallen asleep on her lap. Her friend Eva had plugged in earphones and put on gospel music. Neither Mercy nor Eva had fastened their seatbelts.
Her brother moved to overtake a slow-moving lorry, but the lorry driver accelerated, leaving two vehicles side by side at speed with an oncoming car ahead and a slope to the right. Despite frantic hooting, there was no room. Two cars collided.
"It was smoke, cries and blood," Mercy recalled. The car doors locked shut. Smoke filled the cabin. "I couldn't feel my body at all. The last thing I remember was my brother saying we are all dead."
Choosing the Wedding
They survived. After hospital checks and with a bandage on her leg and pain throughout her body, Mercy sat down that night with a quiet resolve. Both families agreed not to speak of the accident until after the wedding.
"For me, I had to choose: my funeral or my wedding. And I chose the wedding without looking back," she said.
By Friday morning, every cake was decorated and ready. On Saturday, November 22, 2025, Mercy walked into Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Eldoret and married her husband, surrounded by family and friends who had travelled from Mombasa, Nairobi, Kitale and Iten.
She wore a smile through the pain, the trauma still very much present beneath it.
"This all comes with trauma, but I am learning to live with that and look at the positive side of it," she told TUKO.co.ke, adding that she hoped her story would reach someone else who was quietly struggling.
Kitale groom dies in accident
In other news, TUKO also highlighted facts about the tragic incident in Kitale, where a groom, Victor, died in a road accident mere hours before his highly anticipated pre-wedding ceremony.
This heart-wrenching event has left his bride, Betty, hospitalised and the community reeling from the sudden loss of a joyful celebration turned grim.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
Reporting originally appeared via TUKO. Read the full source for additional context.