By Florence Amagiya
He and his wife-to-be had lofty dreams of living fulfilled
lives and raising wonderful children together. The fiance
was two months pregnant and their traditional marriage had
been fixed for October.
His fiancee, a graduate nurse, had just secured a job at First
Consultant Hospital, Lagos. He too also just got a
marketing job with an oil and gas company. She was
reluctant to go to work on the first day she was expected to
resume on account of ‘morning sickness’ (pregnancy
symptoms) and he encouraged her.
She did! Lo and behold, her first duty and first patient to
nurse on her first day at work was the late Patrick Sawyer,
the Liberian-American, who brought the deadly Ebola Virus
Disease (EVD) to Nigeria. And that decision put a full stop
to the lofty dreams of a promising family. Welcome to the
world of Mr. Dennis Akagha, the husband-to-be of late
Miss Justina Ejelonu, the nurse, who contacted and died of
the Ebola disease from Mr. Sawyer.
In an exclusive, explosive and passionate interview with
Saturday Vanguard, Akagha, who contracted the disease
from Miss Justina, was quarantined, treated, cured and
discharged last week, spoke on how and why his fiance
died, how he contacted and survived the disease, how he
was stigmatized and abandoned by co-workers and
neighbours, and why victims must be given adequate care.
He said perhaps, Justina would have survived with better
care. Read on:
---His thoughts on Ebola and late Justina
The truth is that Justina and I were not legally married, we
were planning for our traditional marriage in October and
she just got this job. She was a qualified graduate nurse
and got the job at the First Consultant Hospital in Lagos.
She resumed duty at the hospital on the 21st of July, while
Patrick Sawyer was admitted at the hospital on the 20th.
He was her first patient. She was one of the nurses that
nursed him. She was pregnant and so her immune system
was weak, which made it easy for her to contract the
disease. On that first day which was a Monday, she was
having some pregnancy symptoms, but I just encouraged
her to go because it was her first day at work. Sawyer was
her first patient.
The next day, Tuesday, she didn’t work on Sawyer.
Wednesday and Thursday, she was off. Then on Friday,
Patrick Sawyer died. They didn’t know he had Ebola, it was
three days later that they realized it was Ebola.
Dennis Akagha and Late Justina Ejelonu
---When did you know that she had contacted the Ebola virus?
It was after Sawyer died that she told me she nursed him
but that she was on gloves. She even thanked God that she
didn’t have direct contact with him. The fever continued and
we thought it was just pregnancy symptoms and even when
she went to her hospital, they confirmed the same thing.
She took drugs and ran tests, yet it persisted. At night, she
was usually cold and feverish and her body temperature
was usually very high. At a point, I began to suspect that
she had contacted the virus. I did some research on the
disease and realised that she was having similar
symptoms.
On the 14th of August, it became serious, she started
stooling and vomiting. I had to clean up everything. All of a
sudden, she started bleeding and she started crying that
she had lost the pregnancy. I had to call her relatives and
other people. The bleeding persisted and I had to clean up
everything.
---While you were attending to her did you wear gloves?
Initially I was not wearing gloves because I felt I had
already been exposed to the virus. But later I cautioned
myself and started wearing nylon on my hands. But I
couldn’t stay away from her. I kept consoling her. Even
when I took her to the hospital, she wanted to hold me and I
told her to also consider my safety. She managed to hold
herself and was able to find her way out in a pool of her
blood. We chartered a taxi to the hospital, but first, I took
her to First Consultant Hospital because I felt they should
know more. When we got there, I was directed to IGH, Yaba.
I told the taxi driver to take us there. The driver wasn’t even
aware of what was going on as he took us to Yaba.
Justina was on the floor for 30 minutes before she was
attended to. She was screaming that she was going to die.
She was seriously bleeding, she had to come out of the taxi
and lay on the floor. I ran around, trying to get doctors to
attend to her. After everything, they took her in, took her
blood samples and the following day, the result came out
that it was Ebola. They washed the taxi with chlorine and
also bathed the taxi driver and I with chlorine spray.
At that point, the taxi driver knew what was going on, he
couldn’t even take me home because he was so scared. I
had to look for somewhere to pass the night in the hospital.
Early the next morning, I left the Hospital. The taxi driver is
alive today, nothing happened to him. We have been
checking on him and the last time we spoke he told me, he
was fine.
---So what happened after you got exposed to the virus?
14 days after I was exposed to Ebola, my temperature rose
from the usual 35.2 degrees centigrade to 37.2. The Lagos
State government gave me a thermometer the day I dropped
Justina off at the centre. It took them two straight weeks to
visit my home and to disinfect it. Before they came, I had
already done the much I could do. I used bleach and
detergent to clean the whole house, furniture and clothes
inclusive.
---After that, what happened?
We should be reminded and educated that a healthy person
with Ebola virus cannot get anybody infected, except if the
person is sick and totally down with the virus like what
happened to Sawyer and to my late wife-to-be, Justina. I
contacted the virus because Justina was very sick and I was
taking care of her without any appropriate protection. When
we knew what we were dealing with it was almost too late
for me as I had already contacted the virus.
---Since you had already visited the centre what else was done
for you by the state?
The Lagos State government sent health professionals to
check on me regularly to know how l was doing or if l had
the signs of the virus manifesting. So they used to come
around to check on me. At some point they created scenes
with their visits. I was embarrassed and I was stigmatized. I
complained severely to them that I didn’t like what they
were doing. Then, one Saturday they visited again, I
complained about the pains I was beginning to experience;
excruciating pains around my waist. I started praying and
asking people to pray for me.
Before this time, I believed in the Holy Communion, so I
usually take it daily and do feet washing. I was going to the
hospital daily to see late Justina. Initially, I was seeing her
through the window and she would say I should take her
out of the hospital. She complained of lack of care.
Perhaps, Justina would have survived the virus, if not for
the state she was in. Her immune system was down
because she was pregnant. Along the line, she had a
miscarriage and lost the baby due to the Ebola virus
disease.
The doctors, who were supposed to do an evacuation on
her couldn’t do it because they claimed that an evacuation
was too risky as she was heavily infected and may pass on
the virus to another person.
Since nothing was done even after the bleeding had
stopped, it led to more complications for her because the
already dead foetus somehow got rotten in the womb and
started a damaging process which led to further
complication. Meanwhile, she was still stooling and
vomiting and since nobody could dare to touch her, she was
left on top of her excretions even when she couldn’t do
much for herself due to her weak state. She was given her
incisions and other drugs. I believe if some people survived
Justina should have been one of them. At a point, I wished I
was a doctor myself; I would have taken the risk of doing
the evacuation because it really affected her.
---When was the last day you saw Justina?
The Lagos State Ebola quarantine centre and Late Nurse Obi
Justina Ejelonu
The last day I saw her, I had to go inside the ward because
she was so unkempt as nobody attended to her. At that
time, the quarantined patients were in the former facility
where there was no water and she had messed up herself
again. I had to look for water to clean her up, change her
pampers and arrange her bedding. Since I was aware of
what I was dealing with, I got myself protected while
cleaning up the place. I made sure she looked better than
when I saw her. Justina was shivering the last day I saw
her, one side of her stomach was already swollen, and her
legs were also swollen. I prayed for her. At a point, she
needed oxygen and the hospital couldn’t provide it. Her
friends had to provide it. That was the last day I saw her.
On Sunday Morning, I called her line like I usually did
before visiting her, but she didn’t pick her calls. When I got
to the hospital, I was told that she was dead.
Was she taking your calls while she was at the facility?
Yes, in fact she called me that last day and I knew she was
going to give up, because she was saying some funny
things. She said I should tell my people to go and meet her
father so as to finalize our marriage plans, that she’s
leaving that place.
---From what you have said, were you not scared that you may
die as well from the disease?
I personally don’t believe in taking medications. I had the
mentality that I wasn’t sick. I told the government what I
was experiencing. On the day they came to pick me up for
treatment, all of a sudden, my temperature went back to
normal. The shivering and pains were all gone. So they
decided that they would be checking on me. But it got to a
point people stopped selling things to me. It was as if the
government got a report that I shouldn’t be around. So, they
came and said I should go with them that they wanted to
take my blood sample. I went with them and they took my
blood sample, I was kept in a ward known as the ‘suspected
ward.’
The result came out and it was positive. I was then taken to
a confined ward. One of the doctors from UNICEF, a white
lady told me that they were having issues with the results
and that they would have to re-run the tests. They did the
tests again and it was still positive. I told them that it
wasn’t my result and that I was healthy. I was even doing
my usual exercises (press-ups) every morning. I kept
telling them that I wasn’t sick. They took my blood sample
the third time. That night, they told me that I tested negative
in the last result and that I don’t have any reason to remain
there. That was how I was discharged.
---While you were going through all these at the facility what
happened to your job?
I was a marketer in an oil and gas company. I worked on
commission basis, but at a point, I realized that people
were not calling me and when I called they won’t pick my
calls. Even the person that I report directly refused to pick
my calls and also refused to associate with me. Justina and
I just got our jobs, she got hers at First Consultant Hospital
and I got mine as a marketer with the oil and gas company.
Do you think that the government or First Consultant
Hospital should compensate Justina’s family?
Although, no amount of money they give to the family will
bring her back I think the government owes Justina’s family
a lot because she died trying to save a situation. Justina
died in active service as her death wasn’t natural.
---So how did your status change from positive to negative?
I was reading a book on healing and taking of the Holy
Communion. So I learnt to take Holy Communion morning,
afternoon and night. I also engaged myself in feet-washing
every day before going to bed. The Almighty God saved me;
the Holy Spirit healed me. It wasn’t as though l didn’t fall
sick as l had direct contact with Justina but the Almighty
God healed me. When I was discharged, I got to my house
on Saturday evening and spent two hours the next day,
Sunday, thanking God on my own. I didn’t go to church or
anywhere because of the already established stigma but
today I can confidently attend church activities because I
guess they all know I’m free now. I know my faith and belief
healed me. God also worked for me apart from the fact that
my immune system is also working. I believe I got healed
also because friends prayed for me.
www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/survived-ebola-dennis-akagha/

crying

Our goverment are experts in lies, so they do not take care of anybody but themselves. GEJ till 2019 ko? yes o billion, billions for the health minister.

those that have faith in the government you see how she was treated. GOD, I'M SO ANGRY. Government and LIES, LIES LIES.

Mmm

Obviously this nation, like other black african nations are not ready to contain this virus...medically, socially and politically.

No One Cares except God. I know exactly what he is talking abt his late wife to be messing up herself. I took care of my grandmum b4 she died of diarrhea, it wasn't funny cleaning her up, i was literally swimming in her stool. Everybody boned the work for me. R.I.P Justina. Dennis, u showed u really loved her and stood by her till d end, God bless u.

Thank God for your miraculous healing and to Nurse Justina, may her soul rest in perfect peace, Amen.

Wow that girl really suffered. First day on the job? I believe if she was not pregnant her survival rate would have been higher. Those people did not deserve painful death like that. I will leave Patrick Sawyer to judgement of God

Wow, what a sad story. May her soul rest in peace.

Am so touched... God is indeed wonderful, what a show of love and faith from him.