Bankole, the only son of the late Dr. Stella Adadevoh, in a new interview with Punch Newspaper talks about his mum’s heroic efforts in the country’s fight against Ebola. See excerpts below:
The actual story was that when this man
(Sawyer) flew into Nigeria from Liberia to attend a conference, he fell
ill on his arrival and was taken to First Consultants because the
general hospitals were on strike. When he got there, he was first
treated for malaria on a Sunday. That weekend was my dad’s 60th birthday
and my mum wasn’t in the hospital. We were all at home celebrating. On
that Monday, she went to the hospital and saw him. Immediately, these
were her own words to me, she said she was very disturbed, because it
looked as if blood was seeping through his skin. She said she knew it
was not malaria. When she asked him where he had been and he said
Liberia, she immediately suspected it could be Ebola.Interestingly,
three months or so before, we were just watching the news when she said,
“Nigeria is not prepared for Ebola.” Back then, she immediately did her
research on Ebola, noting that Nigeria needed to be prepared if there
was an outbreak. She printed those papers long ago. So, when this man
came, she immediately suspected; although at the time, she didn’t have
any positive result that it was Ebola. The Liberian officials there were
very furious and said she must release him, claiming that she was
holding him against his will; and she had kidnapped him. But she said
she could not let him leave the hospital for the public good, and he
must stay there because she suspected he had a haemorrhagic disease
which was infectious.
It was incredibly stressful. I hardly saw
her at the time because she was always busy at the hospital, with
government officials and the World Health Organisation officials, and
also having to care for this sick patient. She got home at 3am every
day, and was up by 7am. I couldn’t see her for about three days and with
the Ebola disease, one couldn’t predict the outcome. My dad and I went
to the centre at Yaba every day, but we were not allowed to come close
to her. At first, we could come close to the window to see her, but
eventually, we were not even allowed near the window. I didn’t see her
for about 10 days while she was in there.
The last time I saw her face-to-face was
the day I went to the centre to give her her footwear and her iPad. She
was physically very weak. This was someone I had never seen fall sick in
my life. But then, she was physically very weak. I took all the stuff
to her and put it through the door, she had to go and collect it because
I couldn’t go into the room. We spoke through the window, I was crying.
But she was adamant, she said, “Don’t worry, son. This thing is not
going to kill me, but I am very proud of you.” Those were the last words
she told me. This was about 10 days before she died. The WHO doctor,
Dr. David, told us that it was only a matter of time (before she died),
that we should expect the call the next day or in the next week. We were
waiting for the call. But he kept telling us that it was a matter of
time— it was worse than receiving the actual call.
My mum, Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, worked
at First Consultants for 21 years, the same hospital I was born in. She
was synonymous with First Consultants. Also, many of my best friends
and my whole family were born there. She treated generations of
different families; parents, grandparents, great grandparents, children
and grandchildren. That was the case in my whole family as well. She
treated everybody. I have met many patients of hers who have said that
she was such an exceptional doctor because she really cared for them.
She followed up on them all the time and prayed for them. Medicine was
definitely her calling. She was educated at the University of Lagos, and
then she went to the University of London to continue her career.
Later, she decided to move back to Nigeria to continue her career
because she didn’t want to stay in England. She always said that she
wanted to be here to make an impact on the health care system. She was
selfless and extremely dedicated to her profession. She was there seven
days in a week. She would even do house chores for her patients and go
on house calls for free. Even those who couldn’t afford to pay for the
health care, she had a tab at the hospital, she would give free medical
care or tell them to put it on her bill and she would pay for it.
My name is Bankole Cardoso. I am the son of Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh. I am an
entrepreneur. I was born and raised in Nigeria. I went to Boston College
in the US for my undergraduate degree, where I studied Business
Management and Accounting. I worked with PriceWaterHouse Coopers in New
York. After that, I worked in a private equity firm called the Carlyle
Group, in the US. I’ve been back in Nigeria for about two years now and I
launched a company called Easy Taxi in Nigeria.