Widow of the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, the man who brought the deadly Ebola disease to Nigeria, Mrs. Decontee Sawyer, yesterday said that she shared the pains of the family of Dr Ameyo Stella Adedavoh, the female doctor who attended to Sawyer.
Responding to an email query by our correspondent, Mrs. Sawyer added that it was painful that the late Sawyer caused so much damage in both his country Liberia and Nigeria with the Ebola virus.
Mrs Sawyer said: “I share the pains that the family members of the Nigerian doctor are going through. It is just a pity that Patrick had to cause this damage both in Liberia and Nigeria.”
Speaking in a letter obtained by our correspondent yesterday, Mrs Sawyer, a resident of Minnesota, USA, apologised for the seeming heartlessness of her open letter, asking Nigerians to be mindful of her daughters, and not curse the Sawyer name, even if they curse Patrick Sawyer.
The US-based widow of the first Ebola victim in Nigeria opened up on their private life, and how Mr Sawyer moved in with another woman in Liberia, abandoning her while she was seven-month pregnant.
She blamed what she termed ‘bigmanism’ for the decayed health system of Liberia and the high number of deaths in the country.
“I want to reach out to them and express how deeply saddened and sorry I am for their loss and their pain. I do apologise if my words have cost anyone who is grieving more pain. I fall on my knees and ask God for his healing power for all of those who are still infected with Ebola. I pray for all of the families whose loved ones were taken away
by this merciless killer Ebola, especially those affected by Patrick’s actions.
“Ebola didn’t start with Patrick in Liberia, as we both know. Ebola was in Liberia from a traveller from Guinea since February of this year. The government knew about it and did nothing. Many Liberians, including me, called out to the government then to close the borders. They didn’t do so until one of their own, Patrick (Sawyer), died in July.
“Many people died before Patrick and their lives were just as
important. That is my frustration. Ebola didn’t have to go to Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, had the Liberian government taken drastic actions sooner. I, too, have family members and friends in Nigeria, and now they are at risk because of Patrick’s actions.
“In spite of my anger and disappointment with him, I don’t believe that he did this with evil intent (I could be wrong). I believe his actions were that of a desperate man. And sad for everyone involved, Nigeria was closer than the U.S. This is just my take on what he could have been thinking (of course, I could be wrong).
“My regret is that I was so caught up in my own pain and frustration, that I neglected to see the pain of the innocent people both in Liberia and Nigeria who are affected by Patrick’s actions. For that, I am deeply sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was to cause them pain.
It is a pain I know. It is a pain I don’t want them to have.”
Decontee, a mother of three, further said that she couldn’t
apologize for Patrick’s actions because she did not cause them, stressing that the late Ebola victim did a lot of things she did not like.
She added that: “Going to Nigeria was one of them. His act was one of a desperate man. Many Nigerians and Liberians are affected because of that act of desperation,” she said.
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