“If I had stayed back in Nigeria I would have died” Nigerian woman narrates how being in Tanzania saved her life when she was diagnosed with Chronic Subdural Hematoma

A Nigerian woman has narrated how she nearly died in Tanzania after Nigerian doctors dismissed her health challenges and told her she’s OK.

Bella Udeogu shared her story one month after undergoing an emergency brain surgery in Tanzania.

She said she began feeling ill in Dec 2020 and told her boss she was taking a break to care for herself.

She went to a Nigerian hospital where tests were done and she was certified OK. She was given drugs to manage her symptoms.

She then embarked on her yearly trip with her sisters. Zanzibar, Tanzania, was their destination.

While in Tanzania, she said she was OK while taking the drugs but problem started when one of the drugs finished.

She narrated how she fainted and was rushed to a private hospital. She was later taken to a government hospital after a scan showed that she had Chronic Subdural Hematoma and needed immediate surgery.

She said her sisters didn’t want the surgery to be carried out in Tanzania because the government hospital didn’t look encouraging.

However, the neurosurgeon assured them everything will be fine.

Since she couldn’t fly out in her state, her sisters agreed to the surgery.

Thankfully, she survived and returned to Nigeria where she discovered that had she been in Nigeria, she most likely won’t have survived as there’s a shortage of neurosurgeons in the country.

She said doctors in Nigeria told her her survival was a miracle.

She wrote: “So yeah, the Miracle. If I had stayed back in Nigeria, I’m very sure I would have died. The doctor I met in Lagos told me the same thing, he told me it was a miracle I didn’t die. If it had happened in Lagos and I needed an emergency brain surgery, I would have died.”

She also revealed that the surgery in Tanzania was done for free.

She wrote: “God took me to a government hospital were health care was free and they didn’t have a policy to charge anyone, not even foreigners. I’m still in awe honestly, I’m still in awe. I would like to thank Mnazi Mmoja hospital and the government of Zanzibar, you are incredible.”

She thanked the health care workers in Tanzania who saved her life and the hotel staff who “went above and beyond”.

She wrote: “I would like to thank the amazing Dr Said who saved my life. The brilliant Dr Hassan, Dr Ismail, Dr Said Jnr, Nurses Hadiya, Mussa, Suleiman, Farsi. My Anesthesiologist. Student Nurses Abubakar, Rumi, Dulaifa and the other one. My little friend Yummnah. You were all wonderful.”

Read her story below.