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Nigerian actress and film producer Eucharia Anunobi has recounted how her only son, Raymond, died due to alleged medical negligence at a hospital in Lagos.
Raymond was the only child of the actress-turned-evangelist, whom she bore with her ex-husband, Charles Ekwu.
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They married in 2000 and divorced six years later.
Speaking on a recent episode of “The Honest Bunch Podcast”, posted on the platform YouTube page on Monday, the 60-year-old said her son lived with sickle cell disease.
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This, she attributed to the AS genotype she and Mr Ekwu both carried.
Ms Anunobi explained that she did everything possible to keep her son alive and personally shouldered all his medical expenses after his father left the family.
Tragedy
Narrating the circumstances surrounding Raymond’s death, she said, “He turned 16, and we did not go to the hospital. At 16 years and five months, I travelled again, I think it was to London. When I returned, there was nothing wrong with him at all. I said, ‘Let’s just do his normal, regular check-up,’ so I took him to the hospital. The haematologist asked me, ‘Has he ever had a blood transfusion?’ I replied, ‘We only did it that initial time when he was young, just before his father abandoned us.’
“I told the doctor we did it when he was about three years old. He said that now that he was 16, he should have another blood transfusion to boost his blood count. I agreed. They then told me to go and pay for the blood, so I went out to make the payment. The doctor gave instructions to a student doctor, but instead of carrying out a blood transfusion, the student doctor performed a blood extraction, removing three pints of my son’s blood.”
Rescue
Furthermore, the actress explained that when she returned to the ward with the blood, she noticed that her son had already turned yellow.
She added that the doctor did everything possible to save Raymond, but he eventually passed away.
“It was becoming jaundiced, and that was when they said they wanted to take my son to the ICU. Long story short, the doctors arrived and brought oxygen. Long story short, that was how my son died. So my son died due to medical negligence. But I have come to understand that it does not matter how anyone dies, whether young or old; we are all going to die.
“And nobody will live forever because the word of God is my consolation. He lived for 16 years, six months and 22 days; he died on 22 August 2017. Today, by the way, happens to be my son’s birthday. That is one of the reasons I accepted this interview on 29 January. Today is my son’s birthday. I was praying, and I thought, ‘Wow, what a day.’ I am childless today, but I thank God. I have a few people who love me. I have a few people who call me mummy,” she said.
Ms Anunobi said she had remained childless since the loss, but expressed gratitude to God for the opportunity to experience motherhood.
She noted that having her child for 16 years, six months, and 22 days remained a profound blessing, adding that those years stood among the most glorious moments of her life.
“I’m grateful to God for having made me a mother. And I learned so much in the course of taking care of him, deep in my relationship with God. And so I learned, like they say, the hard way.”
Failed marriage
Additionally, Ms Anunobi opened up about the painful realities of her past marriage to Mr Ekwu, revealing that she was the sole provider throughout their relationship.
She added that although her parents had warned her against marrying Mr Ekwu, she ignored their advice and later found herself bearing the financial responsibility alone.
According to Ms Anunobi, she initially considered ending the relationship after discovering that they were both AS genotype. However, Mr Ekwu persuaded her that they could still have a child without the SS genotype.
She noted, “I told him that my genotype is AS because I have always known since secondary school. So I asked him to go and do his genotype test, as it were, and he did. And then it happened to be AS. That’s when I said, No, we can’t continue this relationship. Charles Ekwu, if you’re listening to me, or if you see this video, you know what I’m saying isn’t a lie; I’m not lying against you. He convinced me and said, ‘Baby, no,’ because he believed things would turn out differently.
“And that he doesn’t think, or have a sense, that he is also trying to check that some people can get lucky, that they have a baby, and it will be AS and not SS. He said I should not leave him; where would he start from? He loves me so much, he said, that he’ll be there, he’ll never leave, nothing he’s done matters. So he convinced me, and we continued.”
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Ms Anunobi added that she later had Raymond, who fell ill at the age of one. She explained that hospital tests subsequently confirmed that he had the SS genotype.
She alleged that Mr Ekwu abandoned both her and the child and left without looking back.
“He’s the same person who said he would be there with me through thick and thin. He’s the same person my parent said, ‘Eucharia, this guy is not it for you.’ I was the one paying the rent, I was the one doing everything. Charles never brought one naira. When I started the battle of my life, Charles turned,” she said.
