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| Late Doctor Ameyo Adadevoh |
As I stomped my feet on the dusty Monrovian ground, my heart
was pounding like a ten ton truck was hitting it repeatedly. It was very hot;
over forty degrees. The entire colour was washed from my face and I felt weak
in that instant. And then, there was this nudging headache…. I wondered whether
this was how death felt like, but death was more of a numb feeling right?
I couldn’t get these macabre thoughts off my mind and there
was a good reason so; I was on a suicide mission this time around! Death was
inevitable, the question was when?
Being a health worker and travelling to various parts of
Africa the past few years, especially the most challenging areas had made me
see life in a whole different perspective… the joy it brings when you are
literally giving a soul a chance to live again…to encounter people with
different problems and still smiling and best of all to offer a helping hand…life
was not just about me and it felt so gratifying. But now that life was closing
in on me.
This mission was a suicide mission because we had heard of
the team that went before us, led by Dr Bradley in another region. He had
tested positive for the EVD the Ebola virus and died within few days. We were
another team, and we were coming into a region with confirmed reported cases of
EVD already. Dr Bradley was one of the doctors I looked up to and I hoped to
meet him someday and soon enough…now it seemed I was getting my wish…I might get
to meet him after all in the most unlikely of places; the grave!
Did I spend all those years in school to end up like this?
I remembered taking the Hippocratic Oath; the oath
physicians and physician assistants took to show "utmost respect for human
life from its beginning." I was so excited, I crammed all of the
words and I tell you, there were so many of them!
Then my mind flashed back to my high school class mate; he
barely made it out of college. He dropped out because he couldn't just do it.
He went on to become a musician and all over the place people were shouting his
name; Temple! Temple! He was travelling about everywhere and in several music
videos...I was here...
I was not regretting my job or my work but did the world know
my name? My story? Or even care? Did anybody know how painful this was going to
be for my family? All these thoughts began rushing so fast and I suddenly
caught myself with a “breathe” command. I had been through this conversation with
my wife several times; it took us weeks of making up our minds and her finally
deciding to let me do what I always wanted to do. I chose this! I couldn’t be
mad now.
My wife, I could just picture her beautiful face had to come
to terms with the certain possibility that she was going to lose me. It broke
my heart when I remembered how bitterly she cried on countless days. Her hair
was a mess, her eyes her bloodshot red! She wasn’t sleeping, eating or even
talking to me. She would withdraw and even abandon our six year old son
sometimes. Some days she gave me the fortitude to go on and reminded me of the possibility
of a miracle that could preserve me. The possibility did exist, but the
environment we were going into was very challenging, very hot and at the
germane stages of the outbreak of the virus, there were no vaccines developed yet,
little resources deployed, few volunteers available, enough to match the
outbreak, it was like the world was dealing with a new beast and we were put in
the front line.
That day I finally left. Could remember it vividly. It was
some minutes past 4 a.m. My wife was able to catch some sleep. So I decided I’d
just steal out of the house and go catch my flight. I could not stand the
emotional goodbye. I might change my mind. Looking down at her beautiful face
as she lay in serenity; I kissed her and silently whispered to my son; my work
here on earth is probably done!
The End
This post is dedicated to families dealing with the loss of a
loved one who was some way involved in the fight against the Ebola virus as a
health worker or doctor.
Rest in Peace Dr Ameyo Adadevoh. Her work ethic, passion
commitment and drive helped us contain the first case of Ebola in the country
(Nideria), as she unknowingly treated and contracted the virus and died of it.
But her tireless efforts saved us of more casualties.
“Unknown to Dr Ameyo Adadevoh , Patrick Sawyer was already
terminally symptomatic with EVD. Mr. Sawyer, on admission denied having been in
contact with any person with EVD at home, in any hospital or at any burial.
So,
on 21 July, Mr. Sawyer was being managed for Malaria. He had tested positive
for Malaria parasites.
But, once she struck
upon the possibility that Mr. Sawyer was EVD-positive, she immediately
isolated/quarantined the patient, commenced barrier nursing and simultaneously
contacted the Lagos State Government & the Federal Health. It required
someone with Dr Ameyo Adadevoh 's capabilities to firewall
Mr. Sawyer & limit the contamination that he would have inflicted. For
that, she paid with her life. She refused for him to be let out of the hospital
in spite of intense pressure from him and from outside.
At risk to her own
life, she knew she had to keep Patrick Sawyer in or the nation was doomed. She
paid the price.
Because of the circumstances of her passing, there may be no
grave to memorialize Dr Ameyo Adadevoh” culled from tweets by @omojuwa on
twitter
We should never forget such a beautiful soul.
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