Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, founder of Stand To End Rape (STER), a youth-centric initiative focused on putting an end to sexual and gender-based violence and promoting gender equality, through advocacy, shared her story of how she survived coronavirus. She took to Twitter to write the uplifting story on Monday, March 30, 2020.
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According to her, the ordeal began on Monday, March 9 when she attended the Commonwealth Day service in London where she was a flag bearer. Osowobi said she started feeling unwell after returning to Nigeria from the UK and decided to self-isolate for the time being.
“Before returning, I had planned several interviews, I was scheduled to start a fantastic consultancy job and was also expecting to sign a contract worth millions. I lost them all! ,” she said.
She made several attempts before she could get tested and had to wait a while for the result.
“No info on my test result. At 12 am, an ambulance was at my house. I woke from sleep and was crying. I got to the isolation centre, but no one was there to receive me. I waited in the ambulance for two hours,” she said.
“The nurses eventually came out and treated me like a plague. I sat in the ambulance feeling rejected.
“No questions about how I felt. So many questions about my travel history. Same information I had provided to NCDC and Lagos State Government during profiling.
“After two hours, I was taken to my space. I felt lonely, bored & disconnected from the outside world.”
“The nurses…”
After getting to the isolation centre, she met with several other people who had also contracted the disease. At the time, she also started experiencing full-blown symptoms of COVID- 19.
“Few days after, another patient came in. We bonded. Days later, patients trooped in,” she said.
“‘Are people observing self-isolation and social distancing?’ I was so scared for Nigeria.
“The next days were tough. No appetite. The nausea, vomit and stooling was unbearable. I’m a blood type A and COVID- 19 dealt with me.”
She said she was so sick that she thought she was going to die.
“I thought I was going to die and contemplated a succession plan for Stand to End Rape,”
she said.
“I was on drugs daily. Sometimes, I‘d take eight tablets in the morning, 13 tablets in the afternoon, 10 at night. My system threw everything out!
“Water, food, soap and all disgusted me. But I’d look at the wall & force myself to stay hydrated — drank. I fought to live! I fought.”
Thankfully, she tested negative for the disease some days later but was not discharged immediately.
“Days after, the Doctors shared the good news that I tested negative. I shared this news with family and friends!”
she also wrote.
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“My blood sample was taken and I also tried to donate my plasmapheresis to help others. I hoped to be discharged.
“I waited to be discharged, but for two days, nothing happened.
“I was unsure of what was going on. Why haven’t I been discharged? Should I be in the same ward? Could I get reinfected? I was worried but remained calm.”
Three days after she tested negative, she was informed by the doctors that she needed to spend some more days at the isolation centre before they could confirm her result.
“On the third day, doctors said, ‘well, we worked with the info we had of you testing negative, but one result came back positive. You’ll stay a few more days. You know we take nose, mouth & sputum samples’,”
she said.
“I continued the medication and asked to be in a separate ward. Sadly, I remained in the same ward as all the other rooms were full.
“My ward had people who were positive. ‘What if I get re-infected?
“For them, I was a beacon of hope and they needed me gone to register the progress. My family and friends were becoming anxious. People in my ward who earlier celebrated the news of my result suddenly lost hope.”
After a few days, she tested negative for the disease again and was discharged.
“Today, I am proud to inform you that I murdered COVID- 19 and have tested negative twice and I have been discharged,”
she announced.
She went on to show gratitude to the nurses at the isolation centre, Governor of Lagos Babajide Sanwo-Olu and her friends.
“To every young person out there, please give your lungs a chance to beat this. Can I encourage you to stop smoking & live a healthy life at this time? A healthy lung is key,” she concluded.
Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi is a strong advocate for women’s rights and gender equality in Nigeria. In 2019, she made Time Magazine’s list of rising stars and up-and-comers who are shaping their industries — and the future’.
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