A Life Interrupted

Stella C. Iwuagwu beams happily after successfully defending her doctoral dissertation..

Of all the stories I’ve written about or seen firsthand, Stella’s captures my thoughts and boggles my mind the most. This is perhaps because I know her personally. I knew her BEFORE the accident and I know her AFTER the accident. I think hers is a ‘life interrupted’. For many people who do not realize just the kind of person who Stella is…let me share this with you my dear readers, just to give you a little insight…As I said in my initial post, Stella founded the Center for the Right to Health (CRH), had been studying abroad and returned home to do her dissertation on Nigerian women living with HIV. What I’m about to share happened at the National Assembly 5 or 6 days before her accident…

Stella was invited to a seating of the House Committee on Health. After all the big people with big titles had made their speeches, they were about to close when she raised her hand to speak. The MC ignored her, she then raised both hands, he still ignored her so she stood up with both hands raised. He then asked the chairman what to do; the Chairman (late Hon. Aminu Shuaibu Safana) said, "let her speak we are in a democracy’. When they gave her the microphone, Stella wailed long and loud into the microphone to everyone's shock. Everyone must have been thinking she had gone mad. ‘Not yet’, she said, ‘This is the wail of the people dying in our hospitals. This is the wail of families who have lost their loved ones in our hospitals. I bring you the cries of people dying in their homes because they cannot even make it to the hospital. If any of you were to be in an accident, would you use our health systems as they are? No! You will be flown abroad for the best care at tax payers’ expense. I pray that the cries of the dying people of Nigeria will haunt you until you act for equity and justice. I challenge you in your four-year tenure to make our health care system one that you and yours can use".

By the time she finished talking, she was weeping emotionally. After her speech people gave her a standing ovation, while some people were crying with her, some came and hugged her including the Chairman of the Committee. He then committed to work with CRH to improve health care in Nigeria.

6 days later Stella was in an accident and the rest as they say is history. We later learned from someone that the same Chairman, Hon. Aminu Shuaibu Safana, collapsed at the National Assembly weeks later and was rushed to the National Hospital where he died…what an irony.

Yes…that is the remarkable person Stella Iwuagwu was and still is…a passionate social crusader, striving to bring change, challenging the status quo, and crying out for the masses.

Her current situation evokes different emotions in me and throws up many questions and issues for me. I am grateful to God that she survived the accident and is still with us, I am happy she that she is getting the best in terms of standard of living as a disabled woman in the USA. I feel so proud of her for all she has achieved despite her sudden disability, I am sad because I feel Stella’s pain, she now works twice as hard to make money, she currently goes through 40 hours of physical therapy every week, a lot of times she’s on painkillers which mess up her thought processes and she’s in such a demanding job, I’m sad because she wants to come back to Nigeria and continue her work as a social crusader changing people’s lives, but she cannot because Nigeria cannot offer her the basic standard of living she has become used to in the USA. But most of all I am angry because of the way she was handled at national hospital, I am angry because nothing has been done to compensate Stella for aggravation of her injuries, I am angry because cases like Stella’s abound all across Nigeria and nothing is done. Life is cheap in Nigeria, yes, LIFE IS SO CHEAP IN THIS COUNTRY.

Many times I have asked myself, what if Stella didn’t have friends in high places? What if Stella and her friends couldn’t afford the cost of flying out in a private plane or the cost of spinal surgery? Why were her arms yanked by hefty men from both sides during the x-ray and MRI? Why was it so difficult getting her into the ICU? Why didn’t the doctor on duty order a full spinal MRI same time as the head MRI? Even after they diagnosed the spinal cord injury, all they did was put Stella in a body cast, a process that required tremendous movement on her part, furthering the damage. Why don’t we have a neurosurgeon in National hospital? Why was there no letterhead to write up her report? Why did it take six days to evacuate Stella? Why did no personnel from National Hospital accompany her to Ghana? So many questions…not a single answer.

Stella’s story isn’t just about disability now, her story should evoke a sense of outrage in every Nigerian at home and in diaspora. If you have access to the best of life in diaspora, what about your friends and family in Nigeria? It’s a shame that, 51 yrs after independence we still struggle to have quality healthcare services in Nigeria. The only way a woman won’t die in childbirth is if her husband is rich enough to fly her outside the country to go give birth or just rely on luck. Same thing with even the most basic of health conditions, in Nigeria people die of snakebites, malaria, typhoid, asthma, pregnancy complications, etc. yet we Nigerians remain complacent while our ‘leaders’ send their children to the best schools in UK, US, Europe, etc, access the best medical care abroad, live in the best houses abroad while we’re content to lie low and be the underdogs eating crumbs for the table that’s rightfully ours.

The Nigerian constitution guarantees every citizen the right to life, right to healthcare, right to education, etc. when facilities that should cater to these rights don’t exist, haven’t our rights been violated? How can Stella access justice? Or do we chant the usual Nigerian mantra and say…leave everything to God?

Below is an excerpt from an email Stella sent to me when I told her that I’d published her story on my blog, it released the floodgates from my eyes…

Nne,
You made me cry. I cried from so many emotions…thanksgiving, pain, pride, grace…then when the song said ‘I made it through the rain’ I thought in my mind, yes, I made it through the STORM, but the RAIN continues. The rain continues as much as I continue to suffer chronic pains and disability. I am still in the rain as long as I continue to live in the US because I cannot really get quality health care or be able to go to my office in Nigeria because it is in the fourth floor and there is no elevator. I am still in the rain when many buildings in Nigeria are not accessible. I am still in the rain, because I realize how lucky I am in the US while there are millions of Nigerians with disabilities with little or no care or quality of life. When it rains on one it rains on all of us...Thank you so much Irene for telling my story, but do not praise me too much, I am just human with my failings. All I ask if for God to show me his purpose for my new life, that all these pain and suffering should not be in vain…


I’m not quite sure how to end this, so I’ll just say God help us all…

Duchess

Blogger Awards...

It feels quite exhilarating to see that so early in my foray into blogsvile I have been given an award by 2 no, 3 amazing bloggers, all within the space of 1 week. I first stumbled across the stylish and versatile blogger awards within 48 hours of starting my blog and I never guessed that barely 2 months down the line I’d be nominated for the award, I feel deeply honored because I know the awards aren’t just handed out anyhow, your blog really has to make meaning for you to get the award, so thanks guys, must mean I’m doing something right. 

The award rules state that:

You thank the blogger that gave you the award…

Share 7 things about yourself…

Give out the same awards to 15 other bloggers…

Then contact them…

I am quite lazy when it comes to writing (yea right) which is why it’s taken me this long to do the needful. Truth be told it’s the part of awarding 15 other bloggers that’s slowed me down, this is because I’ve come across scores of amazing blogs and there’s  just no way I could narrow them to 15.

Today I said to myself ‘oya, get to it’ so here goes… 

*chanting like Betty Wright* first of all I’d like to say good evening and I’m so pleased that so many of you could come out and share in all the love and all the happiness that I have in store for ya…I want you to have a real good time, cos that’s just what I have in mind, is that alright with you? *hearing the imaginary yeeeaaaa* 

Ok seriously now, I want to start by thanking Myne Whitman, the very first person to give me the versatile blogger award. My eyes popped when I saw it and I felt deeply pleased, so thanks Myne…you’ve inspired me to keep doing it.

The next person to give me the award was Priscy, again I said to myself…damn! What’s going on in blogsville? Am I really writing great stuff? So to Priscy thanks sis…you made my day brighter the day you gave me the award.

Then finally my very own girl Menaukodoisready, stops by and drops the bombshell, another versatile award! I’m just speechless. Thanks Mena, thank you very much.

7 things about me: 

In one of my earlier posts I did the 7 (actually 9) things about me so naturally I thought I’d run out of stuff to say again but…there’s just so many things about me... 

1. I was really cute as a little girl, I had the most amazing hair. Many years down the line the cuteness I daresay is still there but the hair….hmmmm, all I can say is thank God for Brazilian and Peruvian tins and ‘Expression attach’ *said in my guttural Igbo accent*! 
                

the beautiful 4 year old, note the lovely hair...

2. I have a very loud (and I think irritating) laugh and sneeze. I don’t know how to laugh ladylike, I’m still learning. When something amuses me (which is often), I can’t chuckle or giggle quietly, I just have to let out a boisterous laugh and I feel sure people (especially the ladylike ladies) stare at me wondering if I have a few screws loose. Same thing with my sneeze, I see some folks hold back their sneeze or turn it into a squeak and I’m like kai! how does one hold back all that breath that’s just struggling to come out? When I sneeze I let it all out, a very loud and pleasurable A-tishhh-ooooooo!! 

3. I am fiercely loyal to friends and family. I can fight (not fisticuffs of course, hehehe) spend all my resources, etc just to defend my peeps. Even if they’re the guilty party I don’t wanna hear it, you just shouldn’t talk smack about them. Some people say this can be a bad character trait, because it means I may be able to condone evil, I say to them I have good friends and family, no evil people around me.

4. I have an opinion on practically anything and everything under the sun and I’m not afraid to say it and argue about it. At this point I’ll just quickly add something here which I seize every opportunity to talk about. I really have no patience for dumb girls who can’t hold a conversation beyond marykay cosmetics, Brazilian hair, the latest niteclub or nkwobi joint, etc, as soon as the conversation turns to ‘how will manufacturers cope now that the Nigerian government is making attempts to remove the fuel subsidy’, they suddenly go mute and hug their small stout bottle closer.

5. I read a lot. I love reading. A huge chunk of the knowledge and skills I have and use to make a living, I didn't get from schooling, I got them from reading. When you have a disability and find yourself in extreme pain a lot of times, going out to socialize isn’t always an option and lying at home feeling sorry for oneself is a No No too. So on days like those, I read, anything, novels, autobios, motivationals, fashion magazines, the Bible, etc.

6. Coffee is like water to me, I take more coffee than water in a day. I’ve been able to kick my other addictions except coffee. God help me. Perhaps I should also mention here that I've never taken alcohol in my 30something years on this earth...I've tried, pretended when I'm among friends (who down vodka, red label, 12 bottles of beer in one sitting), when they're not looking I empty my drink into the flowerpot, or pretend to fall asleep with the drink in my hand...till someone looks at me and says 'see her, she don drunk finish' and takes the drink from me, then I have to act all hungover the next day...kai! I belong in nollywood..hollywood! hehehe

7. The simplest things make me cry, a child crying, a touching love story on TV, a woman struggling to make ends meet, a person in pain in hospital.

 
I should probably call this no. 8 but I don’t want to break the rules. I talk/write a lot, I’m trying to master the art of brevity in writing so pardon me for the long read.

 
15 bloggers:

So with that out of the way, I hereby award this award (hmmm…that doesn’t sound right) to the bloggers below. It was a bit of a struggle choosing from a list of incredible blogs, well after much thought and pondering I came up with these 15. I don’t have enough words to describe them individually but I chose them because they either inspire me or make me laugh or both. They all have unique, fresh writing styles that stand them out in their own right. I am glad to know and read them.

 
Myne Whitman

Nutty J.

Elcy - Life of a handmaiden in transition
Toinlicious 
Priscy 
Mamuje 
Suagrbelly
Menaukodoisready 
Surprise 
The Truth

Life as I’ve lived it

Linda Ikeji

Le dynamique professeur

Welcome to Bold Caleb

An eccentric naija man


Errrr...pls note that these blogs are not listed in any particular order...#justsayin', lol

Overcoming Disability: The Story of Stella..

Determination, patience and courage are the only things needed to improve any situation....Unknown

Today I’m sharing the story of a remarkable woman who has overcome sudden, unexpected disability to shine forth in her personal and professional life. This is a story of strength, courage, determination and an apt demonstration of what the love of family and friends can do in the life of a person. Its a story of accomplishment even in the face of adversity.


Stella’s story also draws attention to the reality of the fact that DISABILITY CAN OCCUR WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT. How one copes with his/her changed circumstances determines if they’re truly disabled or just differently-abled. Her story also exposes how non-existent our emergency services are and how poorly trained/equipped our medical personnel and facilities are. It’s a long read, but one well worth it…


Stella Iwuagwu, is a trained nurse and the founder and CEO of the Center for the Right to Health (CRH), www.crhonline.org, a non-profit advocacy group based in Lagos that works to make health care affordable and accessible to all Nigerians. It takes a particular interest in the poor, the uneducated and those with HIV.


My late mother loved Stella like her own daughter, this is because of her simplicity, humility, poise and style not to mention her exceptional brilliance and positive attitude despite many challenges she had passed through. My mom would regularly ask all of us her daughters to emulate Stella as a role model, indeed that’s what she was and still is to me.

beautiful Stella before the accident

 In 2001, two years after she set up the center, Stella got the chance to attend an intensive summer course in Washington, D.C., dealing with human rights advocacy. Afterward, she took part in a United Nations General Assembly special session on HIV and AIDS in New York. Connections she made in the States eventually led to an offer from the Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program for African Women in Public Service to underwrite the costs of earning a master’s in non-profit management at New York University. This is what she had always longed for as Oprah was one of her role models in life, so she went, she studied, she earned the degree. But once she finished, instead of returning to Nigeria, Stella decided she might as well go on and get a doctorate in health education.


Three years later, she finished her coursework and was accepted as a doctoral candidate. She decided to focus her dissertation on Nigerian women living with HIV and in September 2007 returned home to do her research.


On Tuesday the 18th of September 2007, while being driven from Abuja to Kano for an interview she dozed off. The next thing she remembered was a loud bang. A collision? A blown tire? Robbers trying to force the car to stop? She never knew. But suddenly, the car somersaulted across the road and tumbled and rolled into a ravine. When she came to, she knew from the pain that she’d broken her back and was able to speak to the good Samaritans at the scene on how to carry her out of the crashed vehicle, to prevent complications, and they did well. Stella and her driver were first taken to a local hospital and maternity in Zaria, as the nearby Ahmadu Bello University Teaching hospital was on strike. There she was transferred from the van that brought her into a stretcher and from a stretcher into a bed and then onto another bed. All this while, Stella was screaming from the pain in her back. No attempt was made to use a back board or log roll to minimize damage to her spine. An x-ray could not be done either because the X-ray center had closed. Stella was given shots to reduce pain, and the bleeding from the multiple lacerations on her head and knee were controlled. On Wednesday the 19th of September, 2007, Stella was taken to Abuja with the hope of getting expert care from Nigeria’s high brow National Hospital.


The National Hospital Debacle
On arrival at the emergency section of the National hospital, Stella was again transferred from the ambulance onto the hospital stretcher without a backboard despite her repeated plea that her spine was broken. In the emergency room, the attending doctor focusing only on Stella’s head injury ordered a cervical collar an x-ray and MRI of the head and cervical spine, ignoring Stella’s insistent complaint of pain on her back that was radiating to her chest. Stella’s family rallied around to raise money for the x-ray and MRI. Stella was wheeled to the x-ray and MRI department by a hospital orderly and her relatives.


It is pertinent to note that there were no paramedics at the National Hospital, security men and passers-by were asked to help move Stella first from her bed to the MRI stretcher and from the stretcher to the scan machine; Stella was the one giving directives on how to move her without causing more damage. At the x-ray point, people around Stella were asked to pull her hands very hard in order to get good x-ray of her cervical spine. Stella’s chilling scream of pain was completely ignored by the belligerent, insensitive attending x-ray technician. Both MRI and x-ray revealed that there was no head or cervical spine fracture to the joy of Stella and her family.


The next hurdle was how to get her admitted as she was told there was no bed space. She was told that only the CMD could influence her getting a bed space. Friends of Stella (including Ford Foundation West African Representative, their Senior Program officer, staff of CRH, the Country Representative of NIH and other development colleagues) who were by now aware of the accident started to network to get to the CMD. Finally, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on MDGs was contacted among others who got through to the CMD and a bed space was made available at the intensive care unit.


The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Drama
On getting to the ICU, Stella was completely ignored while the nurse yelled at the orderly and Stella’s relative saying she did not have any bed space and was not expecting Stella. After several back and forth between the nurse and the emergency room via the phone, the nurse grudgingly made a bed for Stella in the ICU. Again Stella was transferred into her bed with no thoughts to her spine, while she screamed in pain. The next morning Thursday, September 20th 2007, the attending consultant assessed Stella during ward round with his team. At his directive, Stella was able to lift both legs and wiggle her toes. He reviewed her x-ray and MRI and was miffed that a full spine x-ray and MRI was not done despite Stella's obvious excruciating pain and insistence that her back was broken. He ordered urgent MRI of the full spine. Again, Stella’s family had to rally round to raise money for another MRI as the MRI technician bluntly refused to do it without cash on hand, even though Stella is an inpatient. The consultant reviewed the MRI that evening and confirmed spinal fracture at the T4 and T5 level, to the sorrow of Stella, her family and friends. By the next morning Stella was unable to raise her legs or wiggle her toes and had lost feelings from her toes up to her chest. Meanwhile, Stella’s need for nourishment was completely ignored; Stella’s friends had to complain to the matron in-charge before the nurses finally ordered food for her on Friday night.


In Search of a Neurosurgeon
The attending consultant recommended expert evaluation by a neurosurgeon. Everyone was shocked to find out that an apex Hospital has no neurosurgeon. They were told that a consultant neurosurgeon by name Dr. Shehu normally comes in from Othman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto. Dr. Shehu was expected the next day which was Friday but they were warned that the possibility of having Dr Shehu see Stella was remote because he had a long list, but again if they were able to talk with the CMD, she can be seen. They embarked on another session of getting to see the CMD in other to get Stella to be evaluated as she was now not able to move her limbs and body up to the breast level. Some of the very senior consultants at the Hospital who were approached to help talk to the CMD painted a grimmer picture. They were irked by the fact that the only neurosurgeon they had, left because of differences of opinion with some management staff. Very late on Friday night, (Stella’s 3rd day at the hospital), one Dr. Nasiru that works with Dr. Shehu arrived Abuja and was able to evaluate Stella at about midnight. His evaluation confirmed their greatest fears, a spinal cord injury. Dr Nasiru knew what needed to be done but did not have the requisite tools to do it.


In order to save Stella’s life, her friends decided to evacuate her to where she could get expert care. In order to expedite this, a medical report (MRI) was required to be forwarded to the potential hospital that would accept her for treatment. While various countries were being identified online as possible places to fly her to, including the US, Germany, South Africa, France, the UK and Ghana, another challenge cropped up as the hospital said that there was no letter head paper to write the official report until Monday when the administrative offices would be opened. Again they were told to get in touch with the CMD to obtain letter headed paper. This necessitated another round of networking to reach the CMD. This time they spread their dragnet to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello who was outside the Country with the Honorable Minister for Health. She gave the phone number to reach the CMD. The team coordinator followed up with a call on Saturday morning and was able to get through to CMD who was at the time in the Hospital premises. Reassured that a letter head will be made available, Dr Nasiru was called and informed of the new development and he promptly said he would be available to do the report. The CMD was eventually seen and when asked why there was no neuro-surgeon at the hospital considering the strategic position of the institution, the CMD replied that there was actually one who according to him was “old, retired and tired”. He went further to state that the hospital was established for Women and Children eight years ago and not meant to cope with the current issues (Stella is a woman). Reminded that there were several highly qualified Nigerians practicing neuro-surgery outside the country the CMD retorted: ‘we asked them to apply, its online, they do not want to come home!’. Why would a well qualified and highly skilled professional come to such an institution where management decisions that concern human lives seem to be centralized in one person and is not supportive of on-the-spot decision making and innovation such as is required of such a facility? While at the ICU the CMD met with Dr. Nasiru and the doctor on duty and had discussions on the decision to move Stella out of the Hospital. While this was going on, efforts were being made to identify suitable hospitals in the countries earlier mentioned. The report was finally sent to the various specialists in four countries including Ghana. The responses from them were very rapid and in unison confirmed the need to get Stella out fast. It was decided that she be flown to Korlebu Hospital in Accra, Ghana.


Race to Get Stella Out of Nigeria
The next battle was to get an air ambulance, Rivers State government, Julius Berger, Aero Contractors, Virgin etc were all contacted. It was Mr. Tunde Oremule the MD of Associated Airline that came to the rescue and had to mobilize his crew within a short period to evacuate Stella. Back at the National Hospital, preparations were in top gear by friends of Stella to mobilize resources to pay for the aircraft and to get medical staff to accompany her to Accra. By Sunday morning, one of the doctors agreed to go, but on the day of departure, the team was informed that that he spoke with the CMD who said he was not aware of the decision, and so the doctor disappeared and switched off his phone. The CMD on the other hand was not picking up his phone either. The frustration encountered in trying to get a doctor and a nurse to accompany Stella in-flight, in case of emergency is better imagined as some members of the team broke down in tears not for Stella but for Nigeria. One of Stella’s friends, a highly trained nurse volunteered to be on board with one of the ICU nurses. The head of the ICU had to pace the hospital several times to get an ambulance to convey Stella to the airport. They had to rely on friends to get Stella into the ambulance as there were no paramedics available to handle what is a very delicate case that needed specialized hands.


While they were having hell in Nigeria trying to get the National Hospital to do the needful to get Stella out, the medical team in Ghana were calling every 30 minutes to know when the flight would be departing and landing so they could be there to receive her. While it was difficult to get National hospital to act in Abuja, the reverse was the case in Accra as on arrival, there were at least ten medical and paramedical personnel waiting at the airport with an ambulance to receive Stella..what a sharp contrast!


In Ghana, Stella got the first professional care in six days of having the accident, her surgery was performed almost immediately upon arrival by a very skilled neurosurgeon Dr. Boatey to whom Stella is very grateful. Her case got worse in Abuja because of very poor professional care, poor attitude and crippling management decision making process.

Stella with Dr. Boatey (surgeon who operated on her) in hospital in Ghana weeks after her life saving surgery

Stella's spine scar postop

Life After...
Four weeks later, her support team sent her to the St. Louis Rehabilitation Institute in the USA, where she spent two months in intensive, painful therapy trying to get her life back.


In the words of Stella....“everyone was depending on me...my staff, my clients, my aging parents with their own medical problems, my children...and I lay there helpless,” Stella said, tears spilling from her eyes at the memory. “I couldn’t even turn over in bed or sit in a chair without falling out of it.”


And then there was the pain.


“It was excruciating.. it still is, all the time,” she said. “It drives me crazy.” But she wears the armor of determination.


By December 2007, Stella was back in Carbondale, still actively working at therapy but bed-bound much of the time. And she still had her dissertation to write.


“I had to do the dissertation,” she said. “It was the only way to get a job, and a job is the only way to get insurance. And so many people had invested their time, money, prayers and energy in me. I had to get on with my life.”


The challenge involved in completing her dissertation loomed large. For one thing, the medication she took for pain made her drowsy. She had some memory problems, too. A strategy materialized after she met SIUC sociology professor Kathryn B. Ward, who has long fought her own battle with multiple sclerosis.


“Kathy said, ‘You can do this,’” Stella recalls. “‘Take it one minute at a time, and do something with your dissertation for just 15 minutes a day.’


“Kathy also bought me some books on meditation. She said, ‘Stella, it’s going to come down to mind over body.’ So I started meditating. It was hard for me to sit still, much less quiet my thoughts, because I had been a Type A Plus Plus.” So Stella set herself a goal. She would graduate in May 2009.


With the help of a study buddy, gradually, a bit at a time, she was able to read the transcripts and analyze the material and do the write-up, and every little success encouraged her to go further. While she didn’t make her May graduation deadline, she successfully defended her dissertation June 29.


But Stella had another goal, too. When she received her diploma, she wanted to walk across the stage on her own two feet. Her physical therapist Kim Booker worked hard to help her do it.


“I tell God every day, ‘I refuse to be helpless,’” she recounted a few days before graduation. ‘I am going to walk again because Nigeria is not accessible. I can get around in America, but the work I do requires me to be in the field, and my office is on the fourth floor with no elevator. Being disabled is not an option.''

Stella learning personal care

learning to walk again..

At 7 p.m. Friday, August 7, 2009 in Shryock Auditorium Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Stella Iwuagwu received her doctoral diploma from the College of Education and Human Services. Though she had hoped to walk across the stage unaided, she used a walker to make her slow way toward her future, but walk she did.

Today Dr. Stella C. Iwuagwu, PhD, MS, MPH, CHES, RN is an Associate Professor with Cleveland State University. She is in the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences (BSHS) and the Masters of Science in Health Sciences (MSHS) program in the school of Health Sciences.

This is the story of the remarkable mum, sister, daughter, aunt, friend, colleague and role model called Stella Iwuagwu, she remains as beautiful, smart and vivacious as ever, only imbued with more inner strength and determination to change the world for the better.


Stella's story speaks a message to both the disabled and even more to the 'abled'. No one expects to become disabled, yet it happens every day and usually without warning. In fact disability will affect the lives of everyone at some point in their life, it is time society changed to acknowledge this. One of the key challenges for a person with a disability is to be seen by the public, to be portrayed in the media, treated by health care professionals, as an individual with abilities, and not just seen as a disability. Stella made sure of this by overcoming all odds to complete her tedious studies and get a job.
Stella was a role model to me before her accident and even moreso now that she’s paraplegic. I wish her many more successes.


In subsequent posts, I will do an analysis of Stella's treatment and compare the responses in Nigeria, Ghana and the USA..don't miss it..


I dedicate this song by Barry Manilow to Stella...I made it through..