Five out of nine survivors of the dreaded Ebola Virus
Diseases, EVD, yesterday, met with Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, and
some members of the State’s Executive Council, SEC, where they recounted their
experiences.
They include Dennis Akagha, husband of late Justina, a nurse
at First Consultant Hospital, Dr Fadipe Akinniyi, Dr. Ibeawuchi Morris, Dr.
Adaowa Igowoh and Kelechi Enemuo, wife of late Dr. Iyke Samuel Enemuo, who died
of EVD in Port Harcourt.
Three of the survivors who are staff of First Consultant
Hospital, contracted the virus from the index case, late Patrick Sawyer, the
Liberian who brought in the disease into Nigeria on July 20, 2014.
They could hardly contain their emotions. Some fought back
tears. Others sobbed. But in unison, the survivors were grateful to God for a
second chance to live.
But to their chagrin, as the days rolled by after Sawyer’s
demise, they discovered they had the deadly EVD to contend with as many of them
were already infected with the virus.
With a brief introduction, Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide
Idris said the essence of bringing the survivors to share their experience was
to help eradicate stigmatisation, which they were contending with.
The stories of the survivors below were revealing:
Dr. Adaora Igonoh: we risked our lives for Nigeria
Dr. Igonoh, who was one of the doctors who attended to
Sawyer, was the first person to recount her experience. She described yesterday
as a “glorious day”.
“It’s a day of joy. I want to say that we are here today
because of God. We survived. We are privileged to see this day, to be here with
everybody; it’s an honour.
“We at First Consultants Medical Centre took a risk. We
risked our lives because we knew that we wanted to ensure the safety of
Lagosians, Nigerians and humanity; because we are a global village. From a
small village, it can spread to the world and we knew the implications. But we
said we would risk our lives and we would not let the index case leave the
hospital.
“We remember the people that we lost; the wonderful people
who risked their lives and we say that we would never forget them. We can’t.
Our lives have been changed; every one of us who went through this ordeal, we
know that we are better for it. Everything happened for a reason and we must
find out the purpose and the reason why we went through what we went.
“We want to say thank you very much to the Lagos State, the
Ministry of Health, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Centre for Disease
Control. I was a full witness to the efforts to contain the virus.
“In fact, there was a time I asked for chicken and chips at
the isolation centre, and it was brought. I was surprised. I asked because I
wanted to see if they would honour my request and they brought the chicken and
chips to me. I was amazed. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming to our
houses to decontaminate them, saving our families who were with us at the early
part of the disease when we didn’t even know we were infected,” she explained.
After she narrated her story, her confidence rubbed off on
others who were earlier reluctant to speak.
Dr. Fadipe Akinniyi: I only opened the door for Sawyer.
Dr. Akinniyi is another doctor at the First Consultants
Hospital. He said he was amazed that he came down with the virus. He revealed
that the only contact he had with the index case was opening the door leading
to his ward.
His words: “I am most happy here today because as matter of
fact, when everyone was running helter-skelter, I told myself : ‘I only opened
the door and by the virtue of that, nothing should happen to me.’ I never knew
I was deceiving myself, until the day I recorded my temperature and there was a
kind of spike. And I asked myself , ‘what is going on.’
“I once treated malaria a while ago and I told myself that it
could be malaria. I used anti-malaria drugs, but nothing changed. Rather, it
was getting worse. Eventually, I went to
a private hospital to treat myself because I did not want to admit it was
Ebola. I felt they would be able to proffer solutions to all my problems, but
it wasn’t to be. Rather, it was becoming terrible and I started stooling and
vomiting.
“I summoned the courage and called the doctors at the
monitoring units that my temperature has been persistently high. They told me
not to worry that they would come to pick me up. In another four hours, they
came with ambulances and before I knew it, I found myself at Yaba Isolation
Centre. It all happened like a dream, because I have read a lot about Ebola
even while in schools. We had a lot of things on hemorrhagic virus, how it
wreck direct havoc on human beings, bleeding and all that.
“You continue to bleed until you are dead. I was very
devastated, but I kept the faith. I remember Dr. Adesina telling me when we got
there that I would leave this place. That no matter what happened, I would
leave this place. She said people still survive the virus and that I should not
mind that I would survive the disease. So, I kept my faith and with the help of
God. I am very grateful to Dr. David, who was the initial doctor who attended
to us before our doctors who were on strike finally emerged. I was very happy
to reunite with my family and everything changed back to normal”.
Dr. Morris Ibeawuchi: I was forced to attend to Sawyer.
Another doctor at the Hospital, Morris Ibeawuchi took time
to recount his dramatic ordeal.
He was forced by one of his colleagues to attend to the late
Liberian-American the day he was wheeled to the hospital.
He said: “I was the person that received Patrick Sawyer the
day he was rushed to First Consultant Medical Centre. It was like a joke. I did not know what came
upon that day. Unlike me, I was so reluctant to attend to him. But I was compelled by my colleagues to
attend to him.
“When I got there, I was just talking to him. It was very
unlike me. Being a doctor, you must examine your patient. After due
examination, I asked him some questions. But Patrick Sawyer lied to me. Even
the ECOWAS Protocol Officer, who saw him to the hospital, kept quiet. I asked
him why he was in First Consultant. He lied to me that he was in a conference
and felt so weak and as a result, people now rushed him to the First
Consultant. I didn’t know that he collapsed at the airport. After sometime, I
took his samples and sent it to the lab.
“I also informed Dr. Adadevoh (now of blessed memory). She
told me to get back to her as soon as the result is out. When the result came
out, everything was normal. But that night, the liver function test was not
available. I told Dr. Adadevoh about MP result, and she was so confused and
shivering because the man came in with a temperature of 39.7.
“She said I should just admit him. We treated him. We
commenced with the malaria treatment. The next morning, Dr. Adadevoh came
around and we all went there. At that time, the liver function test was already
out and the result was so terrible. That made us to be so concerned. After we
went around, Dr. Adadevoh went for her daily clinic. It was at that point that
one of the ECOWAS officers now came in and brought us information that Patrick
Sawyer collapsed at the airport. After that, she asked whether I got the
information. That was how the whole thing started.
“From there, we instituted barrier nursing technique. She
tried as much as possible to get through to the Lagos State Ministry of Health.
Again, I was asked to take Sawyer’s sample. Since I had already had contact, I
was the person that always took his samples. Before I went there, It took me
hours. But I summoned courage to do my duties. So, I went there. When Sawyer
was trying to explain, I asked him to hold his peace and should not tell me
anything. After that, I took samples and dropped it at the blood unit. The next
day, Dr. Adadevoh was so busy. She was just going from one place to the other,
working hand in hand with the Lagos State Ministry of Health. She called me
later in the evening and told to be careful. She said she just got a call that
the result of the test showed the feature of Ebola Virus Disease. She warned me
to be careful and that Sawyer should be treated as the case of Ebola, not even
the suspected case of Ebola. We placed him under surveillance. But Sawyer died. But on the twelfth day, it
was very terrible.
“My temperature is always 36. But that same fateful day, I
checked my temperature and it was 37.7. I felt the whole world was against me.
I was down with fever and became so weak. I lost my appetite. At that moment, I
needed some people to talk to. I left my house, and in that house, I have my
brother, his wife and the two kids. When I developed the symptoms, I was so
bothered about my family members. I had to put a call to the Lagos State
Ministry of Health. The ministry asked me not to make contact with my family
and so on. At that time, I was still thinking it was malaria. I took
anti-malaria drugs and nothing changed. The rate at which my temperature rose
was screaming. At the first check, my temperature was 37.7. It rose to 38. The
highest I measured was 41.
“The health ministry came and decontaminated the whole house.
When I was at the isolation centre, the Lagos Ministry of Health attended to
me. I was stooling and vomiting. I even became weaker. There was a night I
thought my existence on this earth had ended. At that point, Dr. David was the
only doctor attending to us. He tried a lot to secure my life. He had to
rehydrate me. After that, they left me to my fate. That was around 9p.m. How I
made it that night was miraculous to me. I know the hand of God was upon my
life. Dr. David came the next morning. As he was leaving the night before, I
was gasping and found it difficult to breathe. When he came back that morning,
he was dumbfounded. After about few minutes, he told me that my condition was
so bad that he did not know that I was going to make it. He thought he would
meet my lifeless body at the isolation centre.
“But I am alive today to the glory of God.”
Dennis Echelonu: God took my wife and saved me
Echelonu, another survivor was fortunate, but lost his wife,
Justina Echelonu Obioma. Justina was one of nurses who attended to Sawyer at
the First Consultant Hospital.
His story: “She got contact with the index case and when she
came back home, she told me. We didn’t know what was happening because she was
having symptoms. She was two months pregnant. She was feeling feverish. In
fact, that was her first day on the job and her first patient was Patrick
Sawyer.
“She just resumed that day. I encouraged her to go to work,
but she was reluctant because of her situation. I had to convince her to go and
tell them in the hospital about her condition so that they can give her more
time.
“When she came back the following day, she went to work
again. Then the next two days, she was off. We were just at home when the
Sawyer’s case was announced and she told me that she cared for him at the
Hospital. I asked her if she was sure about what she said, because we have been
hearing about it.
“I asked her what kind of contact she had with him. She said
she used protective gloves. Hearing that, I felt rest assured. In fact, she
came to the house and was thanking God that she used gloves. She was just
praying and then the fever persisted and didn’t go down. But because of the
assurance that she gave me, I felt okay. I said maybe the fever was pregnancy
induced; but it didn’t stop. Fever in the morning and night and the highest
temperature she got was 41. She called her gynaecologist because she was being
conscious of what she could take and what she would not take.
“The response at the Infectious Disease Hospital was okay.
At that point, I was so careful. I trusted God for her, but at a point, she gave up on herself and she
died later.
“I finally found myself as a suspected case and after being
a suspected case for a while, I was praying continuous and I guess my prayer
worked for me. People stood by us, but it wasn’t easy. I felt weakness in my
waist, muscles and ankle.
“My being alive today, even though I lost someone, God knows
why and has a reason for everything. I just want to bless God and everybody who
stood by us. Dr. David especially, who did a lot of work on Justina.”
Dr. Kelechi Enemuo: God saved me and my baby
Dr. Kelechi Enemuo, wife of the late doctor, Dr. Iyke Enemuo
who treated the Nigeria Diplomat in Port Harcourt fought back tears as she
spoke for a few minutes.
“I just want to thank God for keeping me and my baby. And to
my husband, I say may he rest in peace,” she said taciturnly.
Some members of the State Executive Council, who were also
present, were caught in the emotions as they listened with rapt attention to
the testimonies of the survivors.
Fashola: Your
testimonies will end stigmatisation
Fashola, after listening to their ordeal, said: “We
sympathise with you for the trauma that you went though. Perhaps it was
avoidable. But I am sure that hard lessons have been learnt.
“Beyond that, I must congratulate you the survivals of the
EDV. I felicitate with you and members of your family and friends. But most
importantly, I thank you so much for coming forward because you took a great
thing and you showed so much courage.
And you have helped
us to take next step forward. And you have helped us to put an end to the
spread of the EVD. I am sure that from today, people watching and listening to
you, especially those that are victims wherever they maybe, will be encourage
to come forward and seek help.
“And that people who stigmatise can change their approach.
Sick people need help, care, love and affection. They did not need to be
discriminated. Perhaps many of those who stigmatise people with disease will
learn from the testimonies that you have given about people like Dr. David. He
risked everything so that you all can be alive.” Culled
No comments:
Post a Comment