How Emotions, Tears, Drop The Cheeks Of Ebola Survivors While Recounting Ordeal , Say Patrick Sawyer Lied To Them

  
It was unbeleveable but it happened when emotions, tears flowed freely in the Conference Room of the Lagos State House, Alausa, Ikeja, for about 30 minutes on Thursday as five of the nine survivors of the killer Ebola virus disease (EVD) took turns to recount their ordeal when they were under the grip of the disease.
The survivors, mostly medical doctors with First Consultants Hospital, Lagos, where the Ebola index case was recorded in Nigeria in an emotion laden voice said they thought they were dealing with just another patient when the Liberia-American Patrick Sawyer was wheeled to their hospital.
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 infected with the virus.
When they first walked in at exactly 5.15 p.m., newsmen focused their cameras on them to take live shots.
It was the first time they were coming out in public since they survived their ordeal.
Some of them felt intimidated by the cameras and walked out of the room to escape the prying eyes of journalists. Those who stayed back buried their heads in reflective mood.
But their confidence seemed to have returned when at about 5.40 p.m., Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, walked in.
Giving a brief introduction, Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, said the essence of bringing the survivors to share their experience was to help eradicate the issue of stigmatisation which was fast becoming an issue survivors of the Ebola virus disease had to deal with.
Dr. Adaora Igonoh, one of the doctors who attended to Sawyer, was first to recount her experience, describing it 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, its 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 happens 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 Government, and the Ministry of Health as well as the Federal Ministry of Health.
“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, I was 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 chicken and chips to me, I was amazed. Thank you so much. It told me a lot.
“Thank you for coming to the houses to decontaminate, saving our families who were with us at the early part of the disease when we didn’t even know we were infected”.
Her confidence rubbed off on others who were earlier reluctant to speak.
Dr. Fadipe Akinniyi, another doctor at the First Consultants Hospital, on his part said he was amazed that he came down with the virus, as the only contact he had with the index case was opening the door leading to his ward.
“I am most happy here today because as a 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.
“Once I have 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 so.
“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 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 school, we had a lot of things on hemorrhagic virus. How it wrecks 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 happens, I would leave this place. She said as it is, people survive the virus, 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.”
Another doctor at the hospital, Morris Ibeawuchi, took time to recount his own dramatic ordeal.
He was forced by one of his colleagues to attend to the late Sawyer the day he (Sawyer) was wheeled to the hospital.
“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 me 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 was there, kept quiet. He asked him why he was in First Consultant.
“He lied to me that he was in a conference and felt so weak. As a result, people now rushed him to First Consultant not knowing that he collapsed at the airport.
“On that very day, the ECOWAS protocol officer was there and did not say anything. After sometime, I took his samples and sent it to the lab.
“I also informed Dr. Adadevoh (now of blessed memory).  I informed her. 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 lever 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, I 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 me 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 12th day, it was very terrible.
“My temperature is always 36. But that same fateful, 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 Lagos State Ministry of Health. The ministry asked 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. I was stooling and vomiting. At that point, Dr. David was the only doctor attending to us. He tried a lot to secure life.
“He had to rehydrate me. After that, they left me to my fate. That was around 9.00 p.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.
“At the time Dr. David came, I was already down. He was dumbfounded. After about few minutes, he forced to tell 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. After some days, he took my samples for investigation. It was positive. He took another sample, and it was positive. He took third samples, it was negative.
“At that point again, the fever that had subsided began. I said God: is it Ebola again? He then told me that it might be malaria. He placed me on anti-malaria drugs. After sometime, the whole thing subsided. That is how I survived the virus.”
Dennis Echelonu, another survivor, was fortunate, but lost he his wife, Justina Echelonu Obioma, who was one of nurses who attended to Sawyer at the First Consultant Hospital.
“She got contact with the index case, 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, it was her first day 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, but I had to convince her to go and tell them in the hospital about her condition so that they can give her more time.
“That was just the first day. 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 case was announced, the case of Sawyer and she told me that she cared for him at the hospital and 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 and 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 well, 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 believed God for her, I trusted God for her, at a point, I think she gave up on herself.
“Two days after she died, the Lagos State Ministry of Health began to monitor me, call me regularly, to trace my contacts and to know my temperature and state of health.
“When the thing went out of hand, they said they would come and pick me, I agreed, but the next day, it became normal.
“They came back again to pick me, but I told them I was fine, I was confident of myself, I had faith in myself and knew that Ebola was not a death sentence, but seek early medical attention.
“I finally found myself as a suspected case and after being a suspected case for a while, I was praying continuously and I guess my prayer worked for me.
“People stood by us, 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.
“At a point, Justina believed she would be fine, before she gave up she gave me confidence that she would pull through, but she had also told a friend she was going to die, at that point she gave up on herself.
“This is a call to fulfil purpose, God has given us a second chance to know what we are here to do, to fulfil purpose and touch other people’s lives”.
Another survivor, 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 muted.
Some members of the Lagos State Executive Council, who were also present, were caught in the emotions, as they listened with rapt attention to the testimonies of the survivors.
After listening to their ordeal, Fashola 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 survivors 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,” the Governor said.

By Ekene Okoro  /  Snr. Correspondent, Lagos of Daily Independent