Nurse Ejelonu was selfless — Friends of Ebola victim

Tributes have continued to pour in for the nurse at First Consultant Hospital in Lagos, Justina Ejelonu, who died on Thursday after testing positive to the Ebola Virus Disease.

Ejelonu died at the Infectious Disease Hospital at Yaba in Lagos, just as the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, announced that experimental drugs to treat her and other people infected with Ebola would soon be delivered to the health ministry.

She died at the age of 25.

Colleagues, friends and family members grieving over her death have said the late nurse was an energetic, selfless and committed health worker.

One of her friends and colleague, Jennifer Okorafor-Ukaobasi, wrote on her Facebook page that she was “so sure” the late nurse would walk out of the IDH hale and hearty.

“I write you with a heart overwhelmed with sorrow. I was so sure you were going to walk out of that Yaba quarantine bouncing.

“When you complained that oxygen was given to only the “big heads”, I was waiting to inform you that your head was the biggest among all victims because you have over 17,000 heads merged together seeing that Igbo Ville (a Facebook group) with over 17,000 members were with you all the way,” Okorafor-Ukaobasi wrote.

She added, with a final tone of resignation, “Well, now, you have passed on to be with the Lord after gallantly standing up to Ebola.

“What more can I say? We loved and love you, but Jesus loves you more. Continue to rest in the bosom of the Lord.

“Good night Justina.”

Ifeyinwa Njoku, also writing on Facebook, said she had worked with the deceased during a retreat in Enyimba in 2013. She described Obi as a generous and hard-working person.

While expressing her grief with another friend, Njoku said, “You remember when they brought that injured man towards evening; how she and one other nurse expertly bandaged him up? She shared her food with me. I’m just so sad.

“Rest in peace. We worked together during the Enyimba retreat. She worked as a volunteer nurse while I worked as an usher,” Njoku added.

Also paying tribute to the late nurse, Cynthia Onyeagba stated, “I can’t just forget her sweet face; I was directing patients from her to the doctor’s room at the Enyimba retreat.

“I am sobbing too. We were together at the retreat in December last year. I remember her taking patients’ vitals cheerfully.

“How I wish you were off duty on the day this evil man was admitted. Justina, may our good Lord accept your peaceful soul. Amen.”

Another person, Nwamara Ihemanma, described the late nurse as a selfless and caring person.

She said, “Rest in peace Justina. You died serving and giving care to mankind. May your soul rest in peace.”

Though she said she had met the nurse who died just once, Blessed Iphy said she considered her a good person.

“This is so sad. As the vaccine has been released, Justina why didn’t you hang on for a while? May your beautiful and selfless soul rest in peace. Though I only met you for a day, it’s enough for me to know that you are a kingdom candidate. Farewell,” Iphy wrote.

Ejelonu was one of the nurses that attended to Nigeria’s first Ebola victim, Patrick Sawyer, when he was brought in sick at the First Consultant Hospital Obalende, Lagos.

She was described as an outspoken individual.

While quarantined, she made a vocal appeal to the world to bring the Zmapp Ebola drug to treat infected victims in Nigeria.

In her last Facebook post, Ejelonu wrote about the action of the Liberian-American patient who eventually infected the nurse and her colleagues with the EVD.

She wrote, “I never contacted his fluids. I checked his vitals, helped him with his food, (he was too weak)…I basically touched where his hands touched and that’s the only contact. Not directly with his fluids. At a stage, he yanked off his infusion and we had blood everywhere on his bed…but the ward maids took care of that and changed his linens with great precaution.”