‘Why my husband came to Nigeria’- Late Patrick Sawyer's wife writes
In defense of her late husband, Mrs
Decontee Sawyerr, widow of Late Patrick
Sawyerr, the Liberian man who came into
Nigeria with the deadly Ebola virus, has said
her sick husband risked all to come to
Nigeria because he believed so much in the
health system here & wanted to be properly
diagnosed and treated. She explained her
thoughts on her facebook wall and also took
a swipe at the Liberian President, Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, who called out her late
husband recently in a CNN interview. What
she wrote below...
"Good day my Facebook friends and
FAM. I hope all is well with you. Thank
you for all of your kind words and
support for me and my family. You
strengthen me more than you realize.
According to an article written on Ava's
birthday (August 10) by Sabrina
Tavernise of the New York Times, "...in
another Liberian newspaper, The New
Dawn, which cited footage from a
security camera in the airport in
Monrovia, Mr. Sawyer behaved strangely
as he waited for his flight out of Liberia.
He sat alone, avoiding physical contact
with people, including an immigration
agent who tried to shake his hand, and
even lay flat on his stomach on the floor
of a corridor of the airport, the paper
reported. Continue...
"I’ve read other reports in other papers
about Patrick’s ‘recklessness’. I get
where they’re coming from, and they
certainly have the right to feel the way
they do. However, as Patrick’s widow, I
would like to shed some light on this
from another perspective. One that only
I, his wife, would know,” she wrote. I
knew Patrick better than anybody else
(including himself).
He had told me many times in the past
how much he didn’t trust the Liberian
healthcare system. He would tell me
about how a person would get checked
in for one thing, and get misdiagnosed
and get the wrong treatment as a
result. On top of that, Patrick was a
clean freak, and told me how filthy a lot
of the hospitals were. He didn’t tell me
this, but I know in my heart of hearts
that Patrick was determined to get to
Nigeria by all means because he felt
that Nigeria would be a place of refuge.
He has expressed to me many times in
the past that he felt passionately about
helping to be a part of strengthening
Liberia’s healthcare system, but he knew
it wasn’t there yet, and he wouldn’t
want to take a chance with his life
because a lot of people depended on
him… Patrick had a passion for life, and
he wouldn’t have wanted his to end. So,
I bet anything that he was thinking, if I
could only get to Nigeria, a way more
developed country than Liberia, I would
be able to get some help. How ironic. It
has been reported that Patrick avoided
physical contact with everyone he came
across during his trip from Liberia to
Nigeria. When he got to Nigeria, he
turned himself in letting them know that
he had just flown in from Liberia. Patrick
went to Nigeria for help so that he can
get properly diagnosed, and not
misdiagnosed in Liberia. And if it came
back that he did have Ebola, he trusted
the Nigerian healthcare system a lot
more than he trusted the Liberian’s. His
action, as off as it was, was a
desperate plea for help. Patrick didn’t
want to die, and he thought his life
would be saved in Nigeria.
I write today, not simply because of
Patrick, but because of the broken
healthcare system in the Liberia, and
the government’s inability under
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (and
other past Presidents) to fix it. Good
doctors, nurses, and other healthcare
providers aren’t given the support they
need to save lives. President Sirleaf
went on CNN News throwing stones at
Patrick, a man who can no longer
defend himself, a man who worked
tirelessly for Liberia. She should be
ashamed of herself. I use to admire this
woman, and was excited and proud of
her accomplishment as the first woman
President in the entire continent of
Africa. She will always own that. We will
always own that. It can’t be taken away
from her. It’s something to be proud of.
But this woman has failed her country,”
she wrote.
@LastßornNews(07060428346)
Comments
Post a Comment
Your comments are highly needed.
Thanks.