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.
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