Dennis Akagha who survived the Ebola virus after losing his would-be wife, Justina Ejelonu, to the deadly disease, is still in the news. Even as he has been declared free of EVD, he is still a victim of social stigma. This has isolated him from society especially as people still refuse to socialise with him, making it difficult to get some of his daily needs. But the young man is attracting positive international attention.
His survival and humaneness displayed while nursing his Ebola stricken spouse impressed many. Now, the international media and some agencies are after him for interviews and social events after he exclusively recounted his moving story to us last Saturday.
Denis was the fiance of Justina Ejelonu, the nurse at First Consultant Hospital in Lagos who contracted the Ebola disease after attending to Patrick Sawyer, the American-Liberian who wickedly brought the disease to Nigeria. Justina was a graduate nurse and was just employed by First Consultant.
She was two months pregnant and her first patient on her first day on duty was Patrick Sawyer. She contracted the disease, suffered miscarriage and died at the quarantine centre in Yaba, Lagos. Denis attending to her while she was sick and even at the centre where she suffered neglect.
He too caught the virus days later but was one of those who survived and he told us his best-selling story last Saturday.
In another chat with Saturday Vanguard this week, Dennis lamented how he is being stigmatised by friends, neighbours and customers adding that living with the social stigma was frustrating.
“I am lonely and bored now, people don’t come to me any more. Even my usual friends before the incidence, are keeping me at arm’s length. They don’t believe I am free of the virus. I have never been so lonely in life. Living with the social stigma is one terrible thing,” Dennis cried.
But he has become a much sought-after man by both international and local media. According to a close source, CNN, Al-Jazeera, e-News among others as well as local journalists desirous of getting headlines are after him.
Agencies and donors have also established contacts with Dennis with some of them offering one assistance or the other. Right now, Dennis may be on a journey to a redefined person with some consolation.
Two international donors have indicated their readiness to support Dennis both financially and morally. According to a close source, the donors will assist him in making the dream of immortalising late Justina come through. Dennis had recently said that he would set up a non-for-profit organisation to immortalise his late fiancee and also to champion the campaign on preventive measures against Ebola virus.
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