Dennis Akagha is one of the lucky survivors of Ebola.He was the fiancee
of Late Justina Ejelonu who came in contact with Liberian,Patrick Sawyer on
her first
day working as a nurse at the First Consultant Hospital,Lagos.Dennis is
now Ebola free but jobless now.He spoke to Punch about his plans
I intend to look for another job. If it’s the will of God for me to
work, I will get another job. Aside from that, I made Justina a promise.
I spoke with her the night she passed on but I had to go there to
confirm the next morning. I had to go inside there after wearing the
kits. I was led in and I held her hands, I just wanted to know if she
was truly dead. At that time, she was already dead. I told her that I
would make sure I pursued those things she could not achieve that I knew
about, in my own little way and with the help of individuals. I would
make sure she fulfils the dreams. Before her death, she had a vision of a
project that I don’t want to share here. If that is what will keep me
busy for the rest of my life, I don’t mind to keep her memory alive. I
wrote the plan and we were just waiting to
complete our marriage plans before proceeding with the project. After
her death, I had to go back to my system (laptop) to fetch out those
things and start reworking them. I’m done with writing the plan and the next step is to register
the business. Private individuals who may want to support the cause
since she died while trying to save lives, are welcome. I don’t mind
since it will be in memory of Justina Obioma Ejelonu. Yes, a lot of
people have been asking me, after now, what next? You have lost a loved
one, you’ve lost your job and you’ve come out negative, what next and I
tell them that it boils down to God.
On the Last thing his late fiancee said to him
The last day I saw her alive was
three weeks today because she died on a Thursday morning. She requested
to see me and I went inside to see her, cleaned her and made sure her
surroundings were clean and okay. She was on drips and I spoke with her.
She requested for tea, hot or cold. There was no way I could get hot
water around so I went to get beverage and two bottles of table water to
prepare the tea (beverage) for her. I also bought bread for her. That
was the last thing I bought for her. I remember she said she loved me;
that was the last thing she told me. After cleaning her up, she called
on one of the doctors, a WHO doctor,
Dr. David. She said softly to the doctor, did I not tell you? The
doctor asked what. She said did I not tell you that if my husband comes
here, a miracle would happen. I laughed and the doctor said yes. I had to clean her up that day.
On why he took risks cleaning her when he knew he could be infected
You see, if you love someone, you will do those things, except you don’t
genuinely love the person. If you genuinely love someone, you can do
anything for the person. I genuinely loved her; she was supposed to be
my wife. And at that point in time, I saw no reason why I should abandon
her. I know most men would do that but my conscience would judge me for
the rest of my life if I had run away. So I had to stand by her. I took
the risks because I loved her and at a point, I started being careful
at the same time. The Bible says wisdom is profitable to direct. But I
had been 100 per cent exposed already even before I started taking
precautions. I started using polythene bags as gloves, which was not
even safe. Not that I didn’t think of the risks, but love is a very
powerful thing. I know she would have done the same thing for me. So why
would I want to run away?
On how he received news of her death?
Normally, I call her every morning but that morning , I called and
called and she didn’t pick up. So I went to the hospital and I was
supposed to get some things for her anyway. So I got the news when I got
there. It was painful for me. Have you lost a loved one before? At that
moment, I felt like going with her. I felt that I couldn’t stay behind
(on earth). I felt like dying so that it would be like we both died,
although it was not possible (for me to kill myself). But that was how I
felt.
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