Ebola: A survivor's story

40-year-old Tigidanke lives in Kenema district, eastern Sierra Leone. Kenema is where the first Ebola cases were reported in the country and is known as a red-zone area due to the prevalence of cases there.

Two months ago, Tigidanke lost her young son and boyfriend to the disease. She then tested positive herself.

It has now been one month since Tigidanke was discharged from the Ebola treatment centre with a certificate proving she is free from the virus.

She told us her story:

‘I never believed the Ebola virus actually existed, until I contracted it through my late boyfriend [name withheld]. He had attended traditional burial rights but didn’t tell me. This is how he contracted the disease. I think he may have had close body contact with either a dead body or a living carrier of the disease. He came back and kept quiet about it until he started complaining about joint and body pain and developed a high fever.

A few days later my four-year-old son started showing similar signs. He was not strong enough to survive the disease. He died of Ebola. It was so painful to lose my only child to Ebola.

It was so painful to lose my only child to Ebola.

A week later my boyfriend died too. That was when I realized I must have contracted it too.

The Ebola ambulance came for me after confirming the status of my boyfriend and son. At that moment, the disease had completely overrun me. I had a high fever, felt pain all over my body and was crying and grieving the death of the two most important people in my life.

I wasn’t surprised to learn from my test result that I was positive too.

I was admitted to the Ebola treatment centre in Kenema. Life in the treatment centre was hell. Every day I saw the burial of at least ten people. Nobody knew when his or her time would come. I was tormented and I expected nothing but death. In the treatment centre I was throwing up blood, blood was oozing from my eyes, nose and ears. 

Nobody knew when his or her time would come. I was tormented and I expected nothing but death.

I totally lost hope when I heard one of the medical staff say to one of the nurses, ‘I don’t think she can make it. If she does, it would be a miracle’. I kept praying though I lost every hope. I abandoned myself to my fate.

Miraculously, my health began improving. I got the all clear after three weeks of being looked after at the treatment centre. I was free to return home.

Back at home my closest family members and friends seemed to despise me. But I couldn’t blame them. They were only being cautious so as to protect themselves from contracting the virus.

I have had a taste of what life means in an Ebola treatment centre and am warning anyone who doesn’t believe it exists, to be very careful.

I not only lost the two most important and wonderful people in my life, I also had first-hand experience of what Ebola feels like. I have never seen anything that kills as fast as Ebola."

I lost the two most important and wonderful people in my life

Tigidanke has joined a campaign called ‘Sent Ministries Sierra Leone Ebola Community Mobilization’. This campaign helps raise awareness via churches in the District and helps teach about Ebola and how to keep safe. The campaign also includes a counselling component to support all Ebola survivors in the district.

World Vision is working in Kenema to help stop the spread of Ebola. The charity has donated Personal Protective Equipment to medical staff working in the treatment centre and is supporting teams who carry out safe and dignified burials for those who have died in their operational areas. 

To help support World Vision's work to fight Ebola, click here.